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Birders
Related: About this forumCrows can recognize geometric regularity
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-crows-geometric-regularity.htmlCrows can recognize geometric regularity
Bob Yirka , Phys.org
April 14, 2025
Recognizing regularity in geometric shapes means being able to pick out one shape that is different from others in a grouppicking out a plastic star, for example, when it is placed among several plastic moons. Testing for the ability to recognize geometric regularity has been done with many animals, including chimps and bonobos. Until now, this ability has never been observed in any creature except for humans.
Because of that, the team started with a bit of skepticism when they began testing carrion crows. In their work, the testing was done using computer screensthe birds were asked to peck the outlier in a group; if they chose correctly, they got a food treat. The team chose to test carrion crows because prior experiments have shown them to have exceptional intelligence and mathematical capabilities.
All the birds tested caught on right away. Each could pick out a star if it was placed within a group of rectangles, for example. To determine their level of skill, the researchers started showing them objects that were only slightly different: one box that was tilted slightly, for example, among others that were not. Their accuracy went down, but it was still much higher than chance.
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Crows can recognize geometric regularity (Original Post)
cbabe
Tuesday
OP
Irish_Dem
(68,308 posts)1. We keep learning animals are smarter than we realized.
At the same time we keep learning humans are more stupid than we knew.
stopdiggin
(13,599 posts)2. without question ! de-evolution as seen in real time.
obviously the ancient aliens need to come back ... splice a few more genes in ... the 'experiment' is moving toward entropy.
Irish_Dem
(68,308 posts)3. The corrupt corporations poison humans and the planet.
And steal most of the world's money and resources.
Humans are then not smart enough to fight back, and demoralized by living paycheck to paycheck.
stopdiggin
(13,599 posts)7. so, it's not the ancient aliens .. ?
darn it ! And here I was hoping for a 'fix' !
Irish_Dem
(68,308 posts)8. Maybe the corrupt billionaires are the ancient aliens.
Landed here on Earth a long time ago.
Been a pain in the ass ever since.
Walleye
(39,642 posts)4. Crows are very smart. They use tools.
cbabe
(4,890 posts)5. One of my favs: Crow Uses Plastic Lid to Sled Down Roof Over and Over Again
Walleye
(39,642 posts)6. That's great, and just doing it for fun. That shows he's intelligent.
Judi Lynn
(163,305 posts)9. Would never have believed it was possible! OMG!
My respect for these little fellas has taken a huge step forward!
Wonderful.
Thank you.
Got so fired up, had to go looking for images of "crows playing in snow" and found this video!
Would never have known to look for it without having seen your post:
Good grief!
Thank you, again.

cbabe
(4,890 posts)10. You're welcome!