Wild crows have this uncanny ability to recognize human individuals, but we cannot tell them apart. This is called crow paradox. Not just remembering people’s faces, these intelligent birds are said to be hold grudges too.
In the study, 12 male adult crows were captured by researchers who were all wearing one type of mask, referred to in the study as the threatening face. Then during four weeks of captivity, the birds were fed by people wearing a different mask. Though both disguises had neutral expressions, this mask was referred to ask the caring face.
To see what was going on in the birds’ brains when they saw both faces, the researchers injected a glucose fluid into the bodies of fully alert crows. The crows were then put in the presence of someone wearing either the threatening or caring mask for about 15 minutes before the birds were sedated and given a brain scan.
The fluid revealed which parts of their brains were most active around a certain mask-wearer. Marzluff said it appears the smart birds have a region of their brain that is analogous to the amygdala of mammals.
“The amygdala is the region of the vertebrate brain where negative associations are stored as memories,” he said in the statement. “Previous work primarily concerned its function in mammals, while our work shows that a similar system is at work in birds.”
The study, detailed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that caretakers might be able to reduce the stress of captive animals by treating them well and consistently.
“By feeding and caring for birds in captivity their brain activity suggests that the birds view their keepers as valued social partners, rather than animals that must be feared,” Marzluff said.
He added that the findings might even be used to make better behaved crows, suggesting that the birds could be manipulated to associate eating a rare species with a negative experience to train them to avoid a particular prey.
Credit : Live Science
Picture Credit : Google
