Crows are extremely intelligent animals. Scientists believe that their ability for analytical thinking is not inferior to those of higher primates.

Crows are extremely adaptable and have adapted exceptionally to living alongside humans. Our actions force them to adapt each time in a new way. Crows don't survive with us, they thrive. On the planet, they are everywhere, except for Antarctica and parts of South America. And throughout the territory you are unlikely to meet crows further than 5 km from a human dwelling.

We are finding more and more evidence that ravens are very, very smart. Their brain size is about the same proportion as that of a chimpanzee. There are many examples of various manifestations of their ingenuity.

Crows understand better than many people what red and green lights mean when crossing the street. Crows living in the city collect nuts from trees and place them on the roadway under the wheels of passing cars to open the shells. Then they wait patiently, waiting for the light they need, return to the road and collect their shelled nuts. An impressive example of innovation in the animal world! The important thing is not that the crows have learned to do this, something else is important. This method was first seen in crows about 12 years ago in Tokyo. After that, all the crows in the area adopted this method. Crows learn from each other - it's a fact!

Another incredible study was done with a crow from New Caledonia. On this island, crows use twigs to pluck insects from the bark of trees. In the experiment, the crow tried to get a piece of meat from a narrow glass tube. But the crow was given not the usual stick, but a piece of wire. She had never dealt with such material before. In front of the astonished researchers, the crow independently bent the wire into a hook with the help of its paws and beak, and then took out the bait with this device. At this point, the experimenters fell into ecstasy! But the use of tools is one of the highest forms of animal behavior, indicating their ability for rational activity.

Another example is from Sweden. The researchers noticed that the crows wait for the fishermen to throw their lines into the water, and when they leave, the crows flock, reel in the line and eat the fish that was the bait.

You can talk endlessly about the intelligence of crows. These observations were made at the University of Washington and speak of an amazing memory in crows. Here, the researchers had to catch a pair of crows flying around the area. The students went out, caught the birds with a net, measured, weighed, and then released them back. And they could not forgive such an attitude towards themselves! Subsequently, the crows flew up to those students when they walked around the campus, and shit on them, flew around in a flock, in short, spoiled their lives in every possible way. This went on for a week. Then it went on for a month. And after the summer holidays...

Writer Joshua Klein has been studying ravens for over 10 years. To confirm the presence of intelligence in these birds, he decided to conduct a rather complicated experiment. In short, he created a special vending machine and put it in the field, and scattered coins around. The machine was filled with nuts, and to get them, you need to throw a coin into a special slot. Surprisingly, the crows quickly figured out this task, picked up coins, lowered them into the slot and got nuts.

We know a lot about the species that are disappearing from the planet as a result of the expansion of human habitats, but no one pays attention to the species that live and thrive. There are about 1 million crows in Moscow alone. These smartest representatives of birds have ideally adapted to the human environment.