Crows are considered to be one of the smartest creatures on Earth. Their bodies are small, but they have “big” brains.
To prove how smart they really are, scientists have put crows through all kinds of experiments over the years. Surprisingly, the results show that crows are truly capable of making remarkably clever and flexible decisions.
Moreover, scientists also proved that a crow can actually recognize individual human faces and remember them for a very long time. What exactly makes these small birds so genius?
How Crows Hold Long-Term Memories
According to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal written by John M. Marzluff and others, to see if crows could tell individual humans apart, the team used rubber masks. They made an experiment targeting crows in The University of Washington.
Researchers wore a "dangerous" caveman mask while trapping and banding wild crows (it is safe but stressful process for the birds). Meanwhile, other researchers wore a "neutral" mask of a well-known politician and simply walked through the campus without bothering the birds.
The results were very clear. The crows specifically targeted the caveman mask by making loud warning calls and diving toward the person wearing it.
They completely ignored the neutral mask. This proved that the crows were not just reacting to humans in general, or to their clothes and walking style, but to the specific features of the face.
Moreover, the crows continued to react angrily to the dangerous mask years after their first encounter, even though they had no other bad experiences with it. Scientists explain that this happens because of how a crow's brain processes danger.
When a crow feels threatened, its brain forms a much stronger memory of that specific face compared to everyday, neutral events. Brain scans show that seeing a threatening face activates areas linked to fear and emotional memory, very similar to how a human brain works. Specifically, crows use a brain region called the nidopallium caudolaterale, which acts like the human prefrontal cortex to handle complex decisions and long-term memory.
Sharing Information with the Flock
One of the most interesting aspects of crow intelligence is their ability to share these memories with other birds. A crow does not need to experience a threat personally to learn who to avoid. They pass this information along in two ways: across the flock and down to their chicks. Amazing, right?
When an experienced crow spots a dangerous person and sounds an alarm, other crows nearby watch the target and join in. This allows birds that were never part of the original event to learn who poses a threat.
Furthermore, parents pass these warnings down to their children too. Young crows stay with their parents for a long time.
When a parent crows angrily at a specific human face, the young bird learns to view that face as a danger. Thus, the warning can last for generations.
On the University of Washington campus, crows have continued to react to the caveman mask for over fifteen years, long after the original crows from the study passed away. The birds currently reacting to the mask were not even alive when the study began. It shows that they simply learned the behavior from the older generation.
For animals that live close to humans, telling the difference between a friendly person who offers food and a dangerous person who poses a threat can be a matter of life and death. If you treat them well, they will ignore or tolerate you, but if you treat them poorly, the whole flock might remember your face for decades.
