Crows can recognize geometric regularity

[cbabe]

https://phys.org/news/2025-04-crows-geometric-regularity.html

Crows can recognize geometric regularity

Bob Yirka , Phys.org
April 14, 2025

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Recognizing regularity in geometric shapes means being able to pick out one shape that is different from others in a group—picking 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 screens—the 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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