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Crows Are Self-Aware Just Like Humans, And They May Be as Smart as Gorillas (www.popularmechanics.com)

submitted 7 months ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/science@lemmy.ml

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[–] meyotch 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

That’s a reasonable design. The result would be interesting and may raise more questions than it answers. That is a good thing.

I don’t think this design would conclusively prove they were engaging in abstract communication, but that would take many experiments of similar scope.

A sceptic could say the unconditioned group reaction was a result of social awareness of the reaction of the conditioned crows. Sort of a collective freak out based on the immediate reaction of the marked individuals.

Regardless, I hereby tender my application to be colony manager of the research group. Murder Manager is the title I would choose.

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Maybe you could instead make it a puzzle type of thing, like "you have a set of 4 buttons, only 1 gives you a treat, and the crow can only choose 1 button". Then see what happens