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Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

Real Science

5.8M views 4 years ago

Warm-up Questions

From the title, how smart do you think crows are compared to humans?
What kinds of “smart” behavior do you expect to hear about in this video?
Why might scientists compare animal intelligence to a 7-year-old human?

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Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

Many kinds of intelligence + surprising crow skills (00:00 – 01:48)

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1. Which group does the speaker say we often think of as being at the top of the intelligence list?

Fish
Insects
Fellow primates
Reptiles

2. What is one example of crow tool use mentioned?

Spinning webs to catch food
Building a beaver dam
Dropping nuts on a road for cars to crack
Using echolocation to hunt

3. Scientists found that crow problem-solving skills rival which age of human?

A two-year-old
A teenager
A seven-year-old
An adult scientist

Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

Experiments with tubes, tools, and planning for the future (01:48 – 06:35)

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1. In the water-tube trial with both water and sand, what did the crows do?

They waited until the treat floated down
They tried to drink the water to reach the treat
They dropped rocks into the water-filled tube and ignored the sand tube
They dropped rocks into the sand tube to reach the treat

2. When given objects with different densities, which objects did the crows choose to raise the water level?

Only soft objects
The lightest objects
Floating objects
Sinking objects

3. In the 2020 planning study, after choosing an object, how long did the birds wait before returning to the test area?

1 hour
5 minutes
10 seconds
10 minutes

Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

How crow brains work, why they evolved intelligence, and human cooperation ideas (06:35 – 16:03)

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1. According to the video, what matters more than absolute brain size for intelligence?

Wing length
Body color
Brain to body ratio
Sleep time

2. A major proponent of an animal’s intelligence mentioned in the video is the ____ of neurons.

density
color
age
shape

3. What is one proposed cooperation idea mentioned near the end?

Training corvids to guide airplanes
Training corvids to pick up cigarette butts or garbage
Teaching corvids to build houses
Using corvids to herd sheep

Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

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1. Which statement best summarizes the video’s main idea?

Animal intelligence cannot be measured with experiments
Crows are intelligent mainly because they live in large adult social hierarchies
Crows (corvids) show advanced intelligence through tool use and planning, and their brains may support this in different ways than mammals
Only mammals can be truly intelligent because they have a cerebral cortex

2. What does the video suggest about bird intelligence compared to mammals?

Bird intelligence is only based on having large bodies
Birds cannot plan for the future
Birds have the same cerebral cortex layers as mammals
Bird brains are different, but some bird brain circuitry can function similarly to mammal brain structures

3. What evidence is used to support crow intelligence in the video?

A single anecdote about one crow
Controlled experiments (tubes, tools, puzzle boxes) and brain research (neuron density, pallium organization)
Astrology and myths about birds
Only personal stories from people who own dogs

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

Why Crows Are as Smart as 7 Year Old Humans

Do you think tool use is the best way to measure animal intelligence? Why or why not?
Which crow behavior in the video seemed most “human-like” to you (tool building, planning, recognizing faces, etc.)? Explain.
The video mentions neuron density and brain-to-body ratio. Which factor do you think matters more for intelligence, and why?
What are the possible benefits and problems of training corvids to pick up trash for treats?