Crows can work out when danger has passed. Photo / Auckland University
New Caledonian crows have the intuition to know that a stick being poked out of a plastic sheet must be caused by a person hiding behind it, scientists say.
Such reasoning was previously considered unique to humans.
The University of Auckland-based research is being published in the journal Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
Researcher Alex H. Taylor said crows were placed in front of a plastic sheet from which a person poked a stick. When the crows saw someone leave the area behind the sheet, they approached a box of food near the sheet without fear.
But during the times when they did not see anyone exit from behind the sheet, they appeared to assume they might be poked with a stick if they approached the food.
