Crows Can Count Their Own Calls
Key Vocabulary
| Word / Phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| crow | a large black bird known for being intelligent | The crow made three calls. |
| call | a sound made by an animal or bird | We heard a crow call from the tree. |
| count | to find or say how many things there are | The child can count from one to ten. |
| signal | a sound, picture or action that gives information | The bird saw a signal before making its calls. |
| plan | to decide what you will do before doing it | The crow seemed to plan how many sounds to make. |
Article
Crows are smart birds. Researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany wanted to know if crows could control how many calls they made. [1]
They worked with three carrion crows. The birds learned to make between one and four calls after seeing a picture or hearing a sound. [1][2]
For example, one signal could mean two calls. Another signal could mean four calls. After calling the correct number of times, the crow gave another response to finish the task.
The crows were often correct. The sound of the first call also gave researchers information about how many calls the bird planned to make. [1]
Sometimes the birds made mistakes. They could lose track and make one call too many or too few.
The researchers say the result shows that crows can plan a number of sounds before they make them. It is another example of complex thinking in birds.
Discussion Questions
- What intelligent things have you seen birds or other animals do?
- Which animals do people in your country think are very smart?
- How can scientists test whether an animal understands numbers?
- What skills do animals have that humans sometimes underestimate?
- What would you like researchers to teach a crow to do next?
References
- University of Tübingen, "Crows can plan the number of their calls."
- Liao et al., "Crows 'count' the number of self-generated vocalizations," Science.
- University of Tübingen, "Animal Physiology Publications."