Birds are brilliant animals, and crows are among the most intelligent. They’re often too smart for their own good, and they are capable of recognizing and remembering people they interact with. That’s precisely what we see in this YouTube Short, where a crow mimics and even answers a familiar voice. While not all crows engage with humans to this level, this one can definitely hold a conversation. But are crows capable of human speech? Or are they just repeating words they’ve heard before, like parrots? Here’s the science behind the crow’s human-like speech skills.
Corvids Are Logical Thinkers
Crows are proof that the size of your brain doesn’t determine how smart you are. A crow’s brain is no larger than a human thumb, yet studies show its intelligence matches that of a seven-year-old human child. In an interview with CBS, Professor John Marzluff of the University of Washington’s Aviation Conservation Lab says, “Neurally, mentally, cognitively, they’re a flying monkey.” This comparison illustrates the logical reasoning of corvids. They’re capable of many things, including:
Problem solving
Facial recognition
Tool use
Counting
Social learning and association
Self-awareness
Logic and reasoning
A report by The New York Times revealed that experiments with New Caledonia crows demonstrated their remarkable problem-solving abilities. When presented with a tall glass of water, crows dropped stones into the glass to raise the water level, allowing them to reach the food floating on top. This gave experts a good indication that the crows’ intelligence level was comparable to that of a five-year-old child. Later experiments presented crows with objects that varied in weight and porosity. New Caledonia crows were able to choose which solid objects would sink, suggesting their intelligence might be even higher.
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These experiments were successful only when the crows could see the results of their trial and error. This indicates that they have excellent visual processing abilities and can recall solutions, applying them to future problems. Visual processing also revealed another unique aspect of a crow’s critical thinking skills. Marzluff’s team at the Aviation Conservation Lab was able to determine that crows can recognize human faces and respond differently to familiar people. When Marzluff’s team wore masks, the crows made different noises compared to when they encountered a familiar handler without a mask. “They recognize individual people that are important to them, and when somebody does something dangerous, they mark that person, remember that person, as far as I can tell, for their life,” Marzluff told CBS.
Crows Form Bonds With Some Humans
The YouTube video by @theaquaticmaze shows just one example of a crow befriending a human. Similar to the experiments reported by the New York Times, crows learn quickly when food is at stake. According to the MIT Technology Review, feeding crows is the easiest way to establish a bond with them. This behavior has become popular in recent years, with many viral videos on TikTok showing people befriending crows. Many of these show the friendly relationships between humans and their local murder (the term for a group of crows).
TikTok user @tangobird has been feeding crows her entire life, and often shows videos of the gifts crows bring in return. While it’s easy to anthropomorphize this interaction, remember that crows are highly intelligent. In return for food, they sometimes exchange random items. This includes anything they find on the ground, from coins to bottle caps, and is given as a form of reciprocity. When this happens, crows might even interact with their familiars. But do they truly understand human speech?
Masters Of Mimicry
Unfortunately, despite their intelligence, crows are unable to comprehend human conversation. They’re highly attuned to actions and may associate certain things with words, but fail to learn human speech. In this YouTube Short, we’re witnessing mimicry. Similar to how a parrot would repeat its handler’s words, crows can do the same thing with familiar people. The crow in this video is repeating words and partial phrases that it’s likely heard before. Often, this is an attempt to obtain food.
©Elizabeth Caron/Shutterstock.com
Crows are also a species capable of learning behaviors, including vocalizations, even though the crow does not understand what it is saying. This is the case with crows in captivity or corvids that spend more time around human beings. They pick up on certain words and phrases and repeat them back as learned behavior. Despite their convincing mimicry, crows are unable to communicate in a way that demonstrates human-level understanding. Crows are not the only birds that use verbal mimicry; many do so for both predatory and defensive purposes.
Catbird | Like their name suggests, they can meow or “bark” |
Parrot | Most adept at mimicking human sounds |
Mockingbird | Mimic a wide range of animals, including frogs, insects, and even other birds |
Starlings | Often heard mimicking non-animal or human noises, like cars or industrial noise |
Lyrebirds | Often heard mimicking non-animal or human noises, like vehicles or residential noise |
Common Hill Myna | Equally adept as parrots at mimicking humans |
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