In a behavioral experiment, crows were able to learn to produce a set number of calls. This involves them planning in advance. From the sound of the first call in a numerical sequence, it is possible to predict how many calls the crows will make. A research team consisting of Dr. Diana A. Liao, Dr. Katharina F. Brecht and assistant professor Lena Veit led by Professor Andreas Nieder from the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Tübingen has established this. Their study has been published in Science.
  • Mechanismatic@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    To be fair, I plan in advance not to make any calls because I don’t like talking on the phone anyway…

  • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
    1·
    6 months ago

    Damn, this is actually kinda huge. Until now, humans were the only animals that have an undisputed, widely accepted and scientifically supported ability to count. However, the evidence they’ve laid out makes it seem obvious that crows can count.

    It’s one thing for an animal to consistently make the right number of noises in response to a stimulus, it’s another thing for them to actually modulate their first call to indicate the number of calls that will follow. Then, the fact that they seem to occasionally miscount (use a first call that corresponds to the correct number but calling an incorrect number of times) would appear to further support this conclusion.

    That’s actually kinda amazing. If the research successfully goes through peer review and gets reproduced in independent labs then I imagine it’d set a new standard or become a guide for determining whether or not an animal can count.