Crows Have Human-Like Intelligence

[Kulapavana]

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Source: National Geographic News</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top>Published: June 6, 2006 Author: John Roach</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

<!-- -->Crows Have Human-Like Intelligence, Author Says

 

John Roach

for National Geographic News

 

June 6, 2006

 

Crows make tools, play tricks on each other, and caw among kin in a dialect all their own.

 

These are just some of the signs presented in a recent book that point to an unexpected similarity between the wise birds and humans.

 

"It's the same kind of consonance we find between bats that can fly and birds that can fly and insects that can fly," said Candace Savage, a nature writer based in Saskatoon, Canada.

 

"Species don't have to be related for there to have been some purpose, some reason, some evolutionary advantage for acquiring shared characteristics," she added.

 

Savage's book, Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World (October 2005), explores the burgeoning field of crow research, which suggests that the birds share with humans several hallmarks of higher intelligence, including tool use and sophisticated social behavior.

 

The shared traits exist despite the fact that crows and humans sit on distinct branches of the genetic tree.

 

Humans are mammals. Crows are birds, which Savage calls feathered lizards, referring to the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

 

"I'm not positing there's anything mythological about this or imagining crows are in any way human," she said.

 

"But whatever it is that has encouraged humans to develop higher intelligence also seems to have been at work on crows."

 

Tool Use

 

Alex Kacelnik is a zoologist at Oxford University in England who studies tool use in crows. He said study of the birds advances understanding of how higher intelligence evolves.

 

As a sign of crows' advanced smarts, Savage cites Kacelnik's 2002 study in the journal Science on a captive New Caledonian crow that bent a straight piece of wire into a hook to fetch a bucket of food in a tube.

 

"No other animal—not even a chimp—has ever spontaneously solved a problem like this, a fact that puts crows in a class with us as toolmakers," Savage writes in her book.

 

Kacelnik noted that New Caledonian crows, which are restricted to a few islands in the South Pacific Ocean, are the only example of some 45 crow species that "are very intense tool users in nature."'

 

Nevertheless, he continued, these birds are "both intense tool users and creative tool users … In addition to the tools they are normally seen to use in the wild, they are capable of making new instruments when the necessity arises," such as the wire hooks.

 

In research published last year in the journal Nature, Kacelnik and his colleagues demonstrated that New Caledonians are born toolmakers—that there is a genetic component to the behavior.

 

The finding, Kacelnik said, fits the notion that higher intelligence requires a genetic imprint to foster more advanced behaviors like learning and innovation.

 

"There are three elements: what animals inherit, what animals learn by individual experience, and what animals acquire through social input," he said.

 

"It's a mistake to believe [these elements] compete. Actually, they coalesce, they enhance each other."

 

Crow Trickery

 

The intelligence of other crow species, most notably ravens, is also demonstrated by their ability to manipulate the outcomes of their social interactions, according to book author Savage.

 

For example, she highlights raven research by University of Vermont zoologist Bernd Heinrich showing how juvenile and adult ravens differ when feeding on a carcass.

 

The juveniles cause a ruckus when feeding to recruit other young ravens to the scene for added safety against competition with adult crows and other scavengers.

 

The adults, by contrast, show up at a carcass in pairs and keep quiet to avoid drawing attention—and competition—to the food.

 

Savage also discusses Swiss zoologist Thomas Bugnyar's research showing how a raven named Hugin learned to deceive a more dominant raven named Mugin into looking for cheese morsels in empty containers while Hugin snuck away to raid full containers.

 

"This shady behavior satisfies the definition of 'tactical', or intentional, deception and admits the raven to an exclusive club of sociable liars that in the past has included only humans and our close primate relatives," Savage writes in her book.

 

Another area of crow research that may indicate higher intelligence is how crows learn and use sound. Preliminary findings suggest that family groups develop their own sort of personal dialects, according to Savage.

 

"There's a lot more going on in a bird brain than people ten years ago would have imagined," she said.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

...some evolutionary advantage...

I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.... [bG 15.15]

 

Of course crows have been a long favorite of witches as pets or 'familiars' - yes there may be more going on in a bird brain than there is in 'the brains' of these evolutionists!

 

One question for them is this - the struthio camelus [ostrich] [as we see them today] have been around - according to them - for 100 million years - why hasn't it further evolved? Should they be bird like humanoids by now?

 

According to them mammalian evolution and specifically - human evolution has taken place in only a fraction of that time frame - so why no changes to these ostriches? <table><tbody><tr><td valign="top">

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[suchandra]

 

I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.... [bG 15.15]

 

Of course crows have been a long favorite of witches as pets or 'familiars' - yes there may be more going on in a bird brain than there is in 'the brains' of these evolutionists!

 

One question for them is this - the struthio camelus [ostrich] [as we see them today] have been around - according to them - for 100 million years - why hasn't it further evolved? Should they be bird like humanoids by now?

 

According to them mammalian evolution and specifically - human evolution has taken place in only a fraction of that time frame - so why no changes to these ostriches?

 

Further proof could be the fact that brain research scientists discovered that the brain is in fact getting its informations from somewhere else:

 

 

The girl with half a brain

By Boaz Rauchwerger ,

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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During my seminars I relate to my audiences that we all have more power in our brains than any computer humans could ever create. However, most people use only about 10 percent of their brainpower. What if we pushed ourselves and used more -- 11 percent, 12 percent or 13 percent of our abilities? That could put us on the verge of genius.

What if we could actually use up to 50 percent of our brain power? Would we create amazing things? Would we be able to bring about miraculous changes in our lives? Would we be able to do things that most people would say were impossible?

If you ever watch ABC's "20/20," you might have seen a recent feature on Brandi Binder. She is known as the girl with half a brain.

When Brandi was 4, she came down with a rare epileptic condition called Rasmussen's encephalitis. Half of the brain is healthy and normal while the other half is dead and deteriorating. If the dead part of the brain is not surgically removed, the patient dies.

The problem with Brandi was in the right side of her brain -- the center of creative thinking and problem solving. She was operated on, lived, is now 22 and lucky to be alive. With the help of her remarkable parents, Brandi apparently found a way to do the impossible by teaching the remaining half of her brain to do much more.

A visit to her Web site, www.brandibinder.com, will show you some amazing artwork that this young lady has created. There you will also find a wonderful quote that describes her life beautifully: "Even though I have half of my brain, I am still a whole person."

This story began in 1984, when Brandi was born. At first she seemed like a normal, healthy baby. However, by the time she was five, things had changed. Brandi's eyes began to twitch, she would grind her teeth, there was drooling, and she eventually had up to 200 seizures a day. When the neurologist gave the news about her condition to her parents, Cindy and Steven Binder, they were devastated.

After the operation, called a hermispherectomy, there was fear that Brandi would never walk again due to the fact that the right side of the brain controls that activity. The right side of Brandi's brain, which was removed, also controlled the ability to be creative, to solve problems, to appreciate art and music, and mathematical skills. There was also a question as to whether the remaining left side of her brain would develop completely.

Recovery would not be easy, but the Binders took one doctor's advice to heart: Challenge their daughter, every day, all the time. The doctor felt that constant stimulation of the remaining portion of Brandi's brain would be very important. What if we challenged ourselves to be more creative, to learn new things, to try things that we thought we could never do? Keep in mind that a mind once expanded, never returns to its original size.

Combining Brandi's determination, and the incredible daily support from her parents, she not only survived, but she thrived. As her Web site states: "Intensive therapy was started with the hope of teaching Brandi's left brain to perform functions that were once right-brain functions. For example, it was hoped, through therapy, that Brandi's left brain would begin to move her left leg. Normally, it is the right side of the brain, which Brandi was missing, that moves the left leg.

"Through stimulation, Brandi's left brain was being retrained to develop new pathways to help her recover some of the things she lost when the right side of her brain was removed."

Ten years after her surgery, Brandi was walking, talking and acting like any other teenager. Although she was not expected to be able to do math, she was getting A's in algebra. She had started drawing and painting. You can judge her talents for yourself by taking a look at her Web site. Two of her drawings were selected to hang in the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Brandi graduated from high school as a member of the National Honor Society, has been featured on national and international television shows, and has appeared in Time Magazine and many textbooks.

Now, in addition to her work as an artist, Brandi is a motivational speaker. She was a featured speaker at the 8th International Conferences on Thinking. How appropriate is that?

Seeing her interviewed on "20/20," it was evident that she is incredibly eloquent and has an amazing, positive spirit. It's no wonder that she inspires millions worldwide to reach past their disabilities and to make a better life for themselves.

The next time I feel sorry for myself, I'm going to think about Brandi.

 

 

A can-do affirmation

I can do anything I set my mind to do. I am a very talented person!

<HR>

Rauchwerger is a speaker, trainer, author and a high performance coach to CEOs. If you have a question or want to supercharge your company, contact him at (619) 723-3007 or e-mail boaz.rauchwerger@sddt.com. Comments may be published as Letters to the Editor.

[AncientMariner]

I saw a raven attack a Canadian Goose gosling once and I felt like shooting the raven to protect the gosling. Its not that I had anything personal against the raven. I realize that Krishna has programmed them to be scavengers that feed on little baby birds and stuff but I still wanted to protect that gosling. The gosling was putting up a good fight to defend itself but I walked up further closer to the situation and that scared the raven off. At least for the time being I bought that gosling some time. It was such a cute little guy but he was on his own so I doubt he ended up surviving. Of course I realize that I am virtually in the same situation as the gosling. The buzzards and scavengers are circling waiting to pick my bones clean.

 

 

 

 

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Source: National Geographic News</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD vAlign=top>Published: June 6, 2006 Author: John Roach</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

<!-- -->Crows Have Human-Like Intelligence, Author Says

 

John Roach

for National Geographic News

 

June 6, 2006

 

Crows make tools, play tricks on each other, and caw among kin in a dialect all their own.

 

These are just some of the signs presented in a recent book that point to an unexpected similarity between the wise birds and humans.

 

"It's the same kind of consonance we find between bats that can fly and birds that can fly and insects that can fly," said Candace Savage, a nature writer based in Saskatoon, Canada.

 

"Species don't have to be related for there to have been some purpose, some reason, some evolutionary advantage for acquiring shared characteristics," she added.

 

Savage's book, Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World (October 2005), explores the burgeoning field of crow research, which suggests that the birds share with humans several hallmarks of higher intelligence, including tool use and sophisticated social behavior.

 

The shared traits exist despite the fact that crows and humans sit on distinct branches of the genetic tree.

 

Humans are mammals. Crows are birds, which Savage calls feathered lizards, referring to the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

 

"I'm not positing there's anything mythological about this or imagining crows are in any way human," she said.

 

"But whatever it is that has encouraged humans to develop higher intelligence also seems to have been at work on crows."

 

Tool Use

 

Alex Kacelnik is a zoologist at Oxford University in England who studies tool use in crows. He said study of the birds advances understanding of how higher intelligence evolves.

 

As a sign of crows' advanced smarts, Savage cites Kacelnik's 2002 study in the journal Science on a captive New Caledonian crow that bent a straight piece of wire into a hook to fetch a bucket of food in a tube.

 

"No other animal—not even a chimp—has ever spontaneously solved a problem like this, a fact that puts crows in a class with us as toolmakers," Savage writes in her book.

 

Kacelnik noted that New Caledonian crows, which are restricted to a few islands in the South Pacific Ocean, are the only example of some 45 crow species that "are very intense tool users in nature."'

 

Nevertheless, he continued, these birds are "both intense tool users and creative tool users … In addition to the tools they are normally seen to use in the wild, they are capable of making new instruments when the necessity arises," such as the wire hooks.

 

In research published last year in the journal Nature, Kacelnik and his colleagues demonstrated that New Caledonians are born toolmakers—that there is a genetic component to the behavior.

 

The finding, Kacelnik said, fits the notion that higher intelligence requires a genetic imprint to foster more advanced behaviors like learning and innovation.

 

"There are three elements: what animals inherit, what animals learn by individual experience, and what animals acquire through social input," he said.

 

"It's a mistake to believe [these elements] compete. Actually, they coalesce, they enhance each other."

 

Crow Trickery

 

The intelligence of other crow species, most notably ravens, is also demonstrated by their ability to manipulate the outcomes of their social interactions, according to book author Savage.

 

For example, she highlights raven research by University of Vermont zoologist Bernd Heinrich showing how juvenile and adult ravens differ when feeding on a carcass.

 

The juveniles cause a ruckus when feeding to recruit other young ravens to the scene for added safety against competition with adult crows and other scavengers.

 

The adults, by contrast, show up at a carcass in pairs and keep quiet to avoid drawing attention—and competition—to the food.

 

Savage also discusses Swiss zoologist Thomas Bugnyar's research showing how a raven named Hugin learned to deceive a more dominant raven named Mugin into looking for cheese morsels in empty containers while Hugin snuck away to raid full containers.

 

"This shady behavior satisfies the definition of 'tactical', or intentional, deception and admits the raven to an exclusive club of sociable liars that in the past has included only humans and our close primate relatives," Savage writes in her book.

 

Another area of crow research that may indicate higher intelligence is how crows learn and use sound. Preliminary findings suggest that family groups develop their own sort of personal dialects, according to Savage.

 

"There's a lot more going on in a bird brain than people ten years ago would have imagined," she said.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

Of course I realize that I am virtually in the same situation as the gosling. The buzzards and scavengers are circling waiting to pick my bones clean.

 

Aren't we all? You sound like a kind soul...

[Kulapavana]

There are many American Indian stories where humans comunicate with crows in a very effective way. Perhaps they are true after all...

[Guest guest]

"During my seminars I relate to my audiences that we all have more power in our brains than any computer humans could ever create. However, most people use only about 10 percent of their brainpower. What if we pushed ourselves and used more -- 11 percent, 12 percent or 13 percent of our abilities? That could put us on the verge of genius. "

 

This is wrong. We do not use 10 percent of our brains, we use all of it, just at different times. We don't use all of our brain at any one time, we use parts of it more during certain activities, and other parts during other activities.

[Avinash]

Yes it is true that we use all of our brain. Some may ask if this is so, then why do we say that meditation, yoga etc. helps us improve the way we use our brain. After all, we use 100% whether we do meditation, yoga or not. The answer is that we do not apply all of our brain on a single task at hand. For example, when I am studying, my mind may wander to many different things. Yoga and meditation help improve concentration on a single task.

[Guest guest]

we may use all of our brain, but we do not necessarily use all of it efficiently. Nor do we necessarily maximize its potential. We do use all of our brain, some parts more than others, but there is always room for improvement.

 

And according to spiritual ideas, the source of our intelligence isn't really the brain to begin with, it's in the spiritual heart, from which the brain processes the information like a computer.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

...AND a great number of humans have a crow-like brain...

 

Similarly, there are different kinds of literature for different types of men of different mentality. Mostly the market literatures which attract men of the crow’s categories are literatures containing refused remnants of sensuous topics. They are generally known as mundane talks in relation with the gross body and subtle mind. They are full of subject matter described in decorative language full of mundane similes and metaphorical arrangements. Yet with all that, they do not glorify the Lord. Such poetry and prose, on any subject matter, is considered decoration of a dead body. Spiritually advanced men who are compared to the swans do not take pleasure in such dead literatures, which are sources of pleasure for men who are spiritually dead. These literatures in the modes of passion and ignorance are distributed under different labels, but they can hardly help the spiritual urge of the human being, and thus the swanlike spiritually advanced men have nothing to do with them. [sB 1.5.10, purport]

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

we may use all of our brain, but we do not necessarily use all of it efficiently. Nor do we necessarily maximize its potential. We do use all of our brain, some parts more than others, but there is always room for improvement.

 

And according to spiritual ideas, the source of our intelligence isn't really the brain to begin with, it's in the spiritual heart, from which the brain processes the information like a computer.

Hari Bolo!

 

Actually - in this verse of Bhagavad Gita the Lord [blessed be His Holy Name] explains where intelligence comes from:

 

I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas. [bG 15.15]

[AncientMariner]

 

There are many American Indian stories where humans comunicate with crows in a very effective way. Perhaps they are true after all...

 

 

It could be possible that an avatar of Krishna incarnated amongst the Native American people and taught them how to communicate with animals because apparently Krishna could communicate with animals. Intriguing idea.