Even smarter than we thought? Study reveals clever ravens [View all]
Even smarter than we thought? Study reveals clever ravens
GESTURES: A new study indicates birds assist others with pointing motions.
FAIRBANKS -- Ravens, which are well-known for outwitting everyone from garbage collectors to rival scavengers, may be even smarter than previously thought.
A new European study reports ravens commonly use gestures -- showing and offering objects to each other such as moss, stones and twigs. Such behavior puts ravens in rare company, making the birds the only non-primate confirmed as using pointing gestures to communicate, according to the study. The study, by Simone Pika and Thomas Bugnyar, was published in the Nov. 30 issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Pika said gesturing skill and other intelligence tests, such as gaze-following and problem solving, show ravens could have cognitive abilities on the same level as great apes.
...
They witnessed 38 social interactions between raven pairs, such as using their beaks to show objects to other ravens, mainly members of the opposite sex.
http://www.adn.com/2011/12/10/2212243/even-smarter-than-we-thought-study.html
= new reply since forum marked as read