Crows Rival Human Toddlers in Counting Skills

image via New Scientist

May 23, 2024, 6:00 PM

• •Crows can count up to four, according to new research.
• •The birds are able to do this by controlling the number of vocalizations they produce.
• •Scientists say the findings are a "spectacular case of convergent brain evolution.
• •

Crows can count, according to research published this week in Science. The results show that crows have counting capacities near those of human toddlers who are beginning to develop a knack for numbers. Crows do not appear to be capable of symbolic counting, in which numbers are associated with a particular symbol that serves as an exact representation. This skill is still thought to be unique to humans. Instead the birds are able to count by controlling the number of vocalizations they produce to correspond to associated cues—just like young children who have yet to master symbolic counting often do.

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