Just like humans know how to keep good things, crows also understand the value of tools

Crows are one of the most intelligent birds, they can find ways to use tools to serve their purposes. A recent study has proven that crows are also aware of the value of tools, just like us humans.

Ecologist Barbara Klump of the Max Planck Institute, Germany, said: 'Many of us would be very careful when handling a new phone, making sure it doesn't get scratched, dropped or lost, but An old phone with a carelessly cracked screen. The same goes for crows.'

New Caledonian Crow.

New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are known for their intelligence, so much so that scientists have used them as a model to help explain the evolution of tool use and related behaviors such as planning. usage plan.

Not only can these intelligent crows use objects they find as tools, they can also shape or even create tools from many individual parts, something that has previously only been observed in humans. primate species.

In the wild, they use twig tools, carefully kept in their beaks, to poke holes in the trees that lurk safely. Insects will bite the tool as a defense, the crow will then pull out the branch and eat the bait it has just 'fished'. But crows have to put their tools down while they're eating, so the tools can fall to the ground or even get stolen, so they've come up with a way to hide the tool, if it's a "genuine" item. .

Crows can find ways to use tools to serve their purposes.

The researchers tested 27 crows they caught from the wild to make sure they had never been trained before. They provided them with two tool options, and the team confirmed that the crows were more likely to use a hooked twig as a tool, compared with a straight twig.

Ecologist Christian Rutz of the University of St Andrews explains: 'Tools with hooks, though harder to obtain, are much more effective. Crows can catch prey with these tools 10 times faster than with tools without hooks."

The birds were then observed in two trials, each on separate days. In both, they are brought to logs with holes of different sizes, inside which are baited by meat or spiders. In one test, they used hooked branches and in another, straight branches.

They found that crows would hold their tool behavior when it was a tree branch with hooks, they would store tools at their feet or in holes to prevent them from falling or being stolen by other crows, while not being too critical. Be careful when using straight branches.

Crows will have the behavior of holding their tool when it is a tree branch with a hook.

Crows can pick up straight branches from many places, but hooked branches sometimes have to find a way to remove them from large branches.

This still happened when they used the tools provided, showing that crows know which tools are more valuable by their use, not the time they spend searching for tools. They used the safest method of storing tools, which was to store the tool in the holes many times for hook branches.

Researcher James St Clair of the University of St Andrews said: 'It is interesting to see that crows are more careful with tools they know are harder to find and more effective. This may suggest that they have some conception of the relative 'value' of different types of tools."

Crows have also been known for their ability to plan ahead, which means they can also prioritize the tools they use.

Crows can define priority values ​​for tools to use.

We have long underestimated the abilities of birds because of their relatively small brains, but physiological studies have shown that the dense distribution of their neurons makes up for it. about size.

Studies continue to reveal that these "modern-day dinosaurs" were capable of performing behaviors we once thought were human. Prove that intelligence is a complex thing that doesn't just arise naturally with humans. Researchers even believe that if humans disappear, highly intelligent birds will be good candidates to replace us.