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I had a pet crow when I was about 6 years old - he was a fledgeling who'd left his nest on the hottest day of the year and was dehydrated. My brother and I wer

I had a pet crow when I was about 6 years old - he was a fledgeling who'd left his nest on the hottest day of the year and was dehydrated. My brother and I were squirting eachother with water and he cawed at us until we squirted him. He decided this was the best thing ever, and basically adopted us from then onwards. He was the terror of the local cats and dogs, but left our two siamese alone because he knew they were part of the family. He'd regularly steal visitor's keys, and hide them in the bush alongside our house purely so he could watch my dad or mum have to hunt for them. He'd play in the sprinkler, and knew the sound of my dad's motorcycle - when he heard my dad coming home in the evenings he would fly down the street and perch on my dad's shoulder for the ride home. Crows are awesome.

drobati 12y ago
I've always heard that crows are incredibly smart. Great story. :)
- wozniacki 12y ago
  Crows are incredibly smart. They are known to memorize curbside garbage pick up routes of city vehicles and the specific days for each neighborhood, within a city. They are also quick to adapt, given a change in schedule and only visit those specific neighborhoods only on those specific days, from miles away. Here's a video of crow performing a multi-step tool action test - a test of intelligence - for the first time, without guidance and solving it in the first attempt. [1] Crow Intelligence - Multi-Step Tool Action Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8-gP3Sw_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8-gP3Sw_8
  - balabaster 12y ago
    This one's my favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiGEDnf5e4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiGEDnf5e4 Crow keeps undoing the guys shoe laces so he can steal the frying pan while the guy's doing his shoe laces up. Classic.
    - zzalpha 12y ago
      To be fair, that's pretty basic reinforcement learning. The other video, on the other hand, shows adaptation of existing knowledge to solve a problem, along with multi-step planning, which is really incredible!
      - sk5t 12y ago
        Only if the crow had significant experience with untying shoes as an opportunity to swipe something interesting... bit of a long shot, no?
        zzalpha 12y ago
        You're over thinking it. On its own shoelaces are interesting. Pulling on the loose end may have started as curiosity. The person then puts the pan down to tie them. Crow grabs the lace again because, again, curious and playful (birds can be incredibly mischievous), and once again the pan reappears! Now we're in reinforcement territory. Now don't get me wrong, the crow learns fast. But it still could be just basic reinforcement of a natural behavior, which is the same technique used to teach various animals "tricks".
        balabaster 12y ago
        It makes me want to tame a crow because it's animals with these kinds of personalities I love. They make life fun.
      - balabaster 12y ago
        That may be true, but the more advanced one isn't nearly as funny :P
  - zzalpha 12y ago
    It's important to recognize that this crow would have been exposed to these types of problems before, so each problem element is likely familiar. But, the act of synthesizing that knowledge, applying that knowledge to a new problem, formulating a plan, and executing it... that really is incredible!
yawz 12y ago
Great story, indeed.
DAddYE 12y ago
Similar story, ~10 years ago a friend's dad (a hunter) found this crow alone and starving (he was probably 1 month old). He gave it to me. I feed him for 1/2 months and instead to leave him in a cage I decided to let him living outside... free. He was super smart, he was able to recognize me he was playful but the thing that most surprised me was that he was really lovable he really liked to be petted and every time I was on my way home from school he would fly down on my shoulder and start to rub my cheeks happy to see me like a dog would. Like a dog every time I called him within a minute or so he would fly down on my shoulder or arm everywhere from my small town. It was a powerful sensation! One day that didn't happen. Indeed I was deeply sad. I thought he died ceasing cats or rats. Around a month later I was driving home while from the windows of my car I started to see several crows flying very close to my car. I stopped the car when suddenly something like 15/20 crows landed in front of me. I'm not good in recognize crows especially at night but I suspect my crow found his crew and wanted to let me know he was fine. Maybe a proper goodbye? I went home with a huge smile, I was a lover of birds, I had several of them, within years I totally stopped to buy them because I think a bird should be free to fly. Crows are awesome.
- cmstoken 12y ago
  Agreed, crows are super awesome.

drobati 12y ago

I've always heard that crows are incredibly smart. Great story. :)

wozniacki 12y ago
Crows are incredibly smart. They are known to memorize curbside garbage pick up routes of city vehicles and the specific days for each neighborhood, within a city. They are also quick to adapt, given a change in schedule and only visit those specific neighborhoods only on those specific days, from miles away. Here's a video of crow performing a multi-step tool action test - a test of intelligence - for the first time, without guidance and solving it in the first attempt. [1] Crow Intelligence - Multi-Step Tool Action Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8-gP3Sw_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8-gP3Sw_8
- balabaster 12y ago
  This one's my favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiGEDnf5e4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiGEDnf5e4 Crow keeps undoing the guys shoe laces so he can steal the frying pan while the guy's doing his shoe laces up. Classic.
  - zzalpha 12y ago
    To be fair, that's pretty basic reinforcement learning. The other video, on the other hand, shows adaptation of existing knowledge to solve a problem, along with multi-step planning, which is really incredible!
    - sk5t 12y ago
      Only if the crow had significant experience with untying shoes as an opportunity to swipe something interesting... bit of a long shot, no?
      - zzalpha 12y ago
        You're over thinking it. On its own shoelaces are interesting. Pulling on the loose end may have started as curiosity. The person then puts the pan down to tie them. Crow grabs the lace again because, again, curious and playful (birds can be incredibly mischievous), and once again the pan reappears! Now we're in reinforcement territory. Now don't get me wrong, the crow learns fast. But it still could be just basic reinforcement of a natural behavior, which is the same technique used to teach various animals "tricks".
        balabaster 12y ago
        It makes me want to tame a crow because it's animals with these kinds of personalities I love. They make life fun.
    - balabaster 12y ago
      That may be true, but the more advanced one isn't nearly as funny :P
- zzalpha 12y ago
  It's important to recognize that this crow would have been exposed to these types of problems before, so each problem element is likely familiar. But, the act of synthesizing that knowledge, applying that knowledge to a new problem, formulating a plan, and executing it... that really is incredible!

yawz 12y ago

Great story, indeed.

DAddYE 12y ago

Similar story, ~10 years ago a friend's dad (a hunter) found this crow alone and starving (he was probably 1 month old). He gave it to me. I feed him for 1/2 months and instead to leave him in a cage I decided to let him living outside... free. He was super smart, he was able to recognize me he was playful but the thing that most surprised me was that he was really lovable he really liked to be petted and every time I was on my way home from school he would fly down on my shoulder and start to rub my cheeks happy to see me like a dog would. Like a dog every time I called him within a minute or so he would fly down on my shoulder or arm everywhere from my small town. It was a powerful sensation! One day that didn't happen. Indeed I was deeply sad. I thought he died ceasing cats or rats. Around a month later I was driving home while from the windows of my car I started to see several crows flying very close to my car. I stopped the car when suddenly something like 15/20 crows landed in front of me. I'm not good in recognize crows especially at night but I suspect my crow found his crew and wanted to let me know he was fine. Maybe a proper goodbye? I went home with a huge smile, I was a lover of birds, I had several of them, within years I totally stopped to buy them because I think a bird should be free to fly. Crows are awesome.

cmstoken 12y ago
Agreed, crows are super awesome.