Crow Intelligence

New Caledonian crows and American crows demonstrate intelligence rivaling great apes. They fashion hooks from wire to retrieve food (not taught — they innovate), hide food in front of other crows then move it when unobserved (demonstrating theory of mind), plan for the future (saving food for later), and recognize individual human faces — passing the recognition to their offspring. Crows have been documented dropping walnuts on crosswalks to have cars crack them, then retrieving the nuts on red lights. They use sticks to fish insects from bark, then store the tools for future use. They form funeral-like gatherings around dead crows — apparently examining the cause of death to learn about threats. Their brains, while lacking a cortex, have evolved an equivalent parallel architecture.