The backyard bird that remembers your face and holds grudges
This bird remembers your face for years, and can teach its whole family to hate you.
Which one is REALLY true about the Crow?
The short version
Crows are among the smartest animals alive, with intelligence rivaling a young child. They recognize and remember individual human faces for years, hold grudges and teach others (even their young) who to fear, make and use tools, solve multi-step puzzles, plan ahead, and gather around their dead like funerals.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Crow may be one of the smartest animals on Earth, with brainpower rivaling a young child.
- ✓The Crow can recognize and remember individual human faces for years.
- ✓The Crow holds a grudge and teaches its friends and even its babies which faces to fear.
- ✓The Crow bends wires into hooks and uses sticks as tools to fish out food it can't reach.
- ✓The Crow solves complex multi-step puzzles, plans ahead, and gathers around its dead like a funeral.
You could line up about 1 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This everyday backyard bird might be one of the smartest animals on the entire planet. Meet the crow, a bird whose brainpower can rival that of a young child. Crows can recognize and remember individual human faces for years. If you upset one, it will not only hold a grudge, it will teach its friends and even its own babies that your face is dangerous, so a whole flock can end up harassing you. They are master tool users, bending wires into hooks and using sticks to fish out food they cannot reach. They can solve complex multi-step puzzles, plan ahead for the future, and even seem to gather around their dead, like a kind of funeral. Some crows have even been known to bring little gifts, like buttons and beads, to the people who regularly feed them. All of this from a bird you probably walk right past every single day. Follow for more weird animal facts.
A crow's forebrain is crammed with an unusually large number of tiny brain cells called neurons — roughly as many as some monkeys have — so it packs a lot of thinking power into a small head. When a crow meets a scary person, its brain links that face to the feeling of danger using a memory area and a fear center much like the ones inside our own heads. Because the face and the fright get stored together as one strong memory, the crow can spot that same face and stay on guard for years. Scientists are still figuring out exactly how crows pass these face-memories along to other crows.
📚 Source: University of Washington News: Crows react to threats in human-like way ↗In a University of Washington experiment, scientists wearing a rubber 'caveman' mask trapped and banded wild crows, and for nearly seven years afterward the crows scolded and dive-bombed anyone in that mask — including young crows that had never been caught, showing the birds remembered the face and passed the warning on.
📚 Source: National Wildlife Federation: Crows Can Distinguish Faces In a Crowd ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Crow may be one of the smartest animals on Earth, with brainpower rivaling a young child.”
“The Crow hypnotizes its prey by pulsing moving bands of color across its skin, freezing the target in place.”
“The Crow can recognize and remember individual human faces for years.”