Crows aren't just smart, they are scarily smart

now this is something to crawl about they might not seem to be the smartest creatures in the world but some crows actually have brains bigger than yours in proportion to the rest of their bodies of course the new Caledonian Crow has a brain that makes up nearly three percent of its total body weight the proportion is similar to that in dolphins in great apes an adult woman's brain only weighs around two percent of their body weight I think mine's lower than that research has also shown that the Crow's forebrains are more packed with neurons than those of primates this area of the brain defines the intelligence of an animal so more neurons means better cognitive reasoning they could even be the smartest non-humans on the planet and smarter than seven-year-old humans scientists offered six wild crows a series of tests to see how well they understand causal relationships the tests were based on esop's Fable where a Thirsty Crow was dropped rocks to raise the water level in a pitcher the real life crows had to drop heavy objects into tubes filled with water the birds were given a choice of objects to drop they knew they had to choose solid and not Hollow objects to drop and a tube filled with water and not sand they also opted for the tube with a higher level of water knowing it would get them to the final goal with less work all of the birds have successfully solved the puzzle unlike little humans aged four to six and faster than 7 year olds another experiment has proved that crows are capable of analogical thinking the smart birds were given a tray with three cups on it the middle cup had a card on it with a collar a shape or a number the side cups also had images on top of them one the same as on the middle cup and one different from it there was food inside the cup with a matching picture crows quickly figured out how it all worked and started choosing matching cards to get the tree during the next round of the experiment they got cards with pairs of items on it these were pairs of identical items on two of the cards let's say two circles and two triangles the remaining two cards had diverse images a circle with a heart and a square with a triangle so they had to find a match for a card with two identical items and two different items the birds instantly figured out the task and picked the right cards each time no dummies on every continent except Antarctica and South America crows and their close relatives Ravens magpies and Jays have learned not only to survive among humans but to make use of this relationship crows who live in cities in America and Japan for example have learned to drop tough nuts onto streets with heavy traffic and wait for the vehicles to crush the nuts for them then the birds wait for traffic lights to go green for pedestrians and safely pick up the treats from the ground in 2011 a team from the University of Washington proved that crows can recognize human faces and remember their enemies one researcher put on a caveman mask and another one wore a Dick Cheney mask the caveman visited five sites to catch and ban some wild crows once they were released the birds made some loud angry cause they did it to warn their Pals there was a bold Intruder nearby the pals would then fly over to punish the Neanderthal with some pretty angry sounds the experiments Dick Cheney did pretty much nothing scientists would revisit the exact same spots for five years and the birds would always greet the Caveman with angry skulls and ignore Dick Cheney some of the birds who took part in the original experiment were not even alive anymore but it looked like they had passed down the knowledge to their young they can also somehow tell if a human presents a direct threat to them or is just minding their own business crows take off much sooner when they notice a person moving their way and staring at them most birds and other animals prefer to run away when humans are approaching even when they're just strolling by crows feel when it's okay to stay relaxed and when they must escape Danger family means a lot to crows they normally find one partner for life and live in pairs or small family groups in the cold winter time they join hundreds and even thousands of their peers to survive the nights in a unit called a roost during the nesting season young crows help their parents defend the nest from many Intruders they can also bring food to their parents or directly to the youngest siblings it's like takeout some birds keep helping their parents for several years crows also make friends for life and form huge gangs to protect themselves from predators they swoop in to harass any unwanted aggressive guests and even go after larger birds like owls or Hawks or other animals sometimes they also get together to steal food from larger creatures members of the group distract the Predators attention While others do this sneaky business now it may all sound like to you but crows have a whole variety of sounds and each of them means something to others of their kind they can warn prospective Intruders that they're about to enter their territory or let the relatives know their location that language isn't Universal it varies from Valley to Valley pretty much like Regional dial-ups if a crow decides to join a new fly for some reason it will have to learn to cause their language by mimicking the sounds of other members of the new flock crows have more self-control than many people if someone offered you a treat you could get right now and another more delicious one you'd have to wait for what would you choose the smarty pants with feathers have proven they know that waiting a bit pays off researchers first tested the Crow's dietary preferences bread grapes sausage fried pork fat and other treats each of the birds had their favorites then they offered them their least favorite food after a few seconds to 10 minutes the researchers offered the birdies a more delicious treat or a bigger portion of the same snack they had the option to grab whatever they got and fly but that would mean no hope of getting a better treat the participating crows chose to wait only for a higher quality snack they'd enjoy more they didn't want to wait to get the second portion of the same old snack only when they got the desired food would the participants leave the testing grounds other birds like pigeons chickens and gray parrots didn't show that kind of patience and self-control during the same experiment Our Heroes of the day never waste food when they have too much of it they hide it in caches for later in some secret spots or in leaves or other objects once they feel hungry again they know exactly where to go to find their supplies sometimes they also add some markers on the top of the cache to remember where it was or move food from spot to spot to protect it from some other hungry mouths they also know which food goes bad first and finished meat before other types of meals like nuts or bread that stay good for longer crows also craft and use their own tools they've learned to carve thin strips of wood and skewers and bend wires into hooks to pick up food that is Out Of Reach they remember the design and recreate the same kind of tool crows also know how to combine materials that wouldn't work separately to build one complex tool only humans in great apes were known to do something like that before it also looks like crows enjoy the process of making and using a tool their behavior changes after successfully using a tool just like we humans feel happy after finishing a complicated work assignment .