"CROWS REMEMBER, REASON AND REDEFINE INTELIGENCE" with Kaeli Swift

Mark Kyle· Host0:00

[funky music] I'm fascinated by crows. How about you? In this episode, Kaeli Swift joins me. She's a corvid researcher, and I call her, [laughs] get this, the Jane Goodall of corvids. Now, what's a corvid? It's everything crow, raven, jays, magpies, and nutcrackers, 'cause she is so, so insightful. And these corvids, they're all intelligent in their own ways. So here's a question for you. How do we actually define intelligence in animals? We do a deep dive into this, but first, let's talk a little bit about crows. Now, have you ever heard about crow funerals? If you haven't, it's fascinating, and it's definitely, it's definitely not what you think it is. When a crow dies, several crows will actually fly down and surround their dead friend. Now, it's been established they're actually studying it to learn what may have happened to their friend, so in the future possibly they can prevent whatever danger or threat it may represent. Crazy smart, right? Did you know crows can actually recognize individual faces and remember them for years? Then they'll actually go and tell their friends, "Hey, that human guy over there, he's mean. Watch out for him." Or, "That human girl over there, she's really kind, so don't worry about her." Now, get this. There are crows in Japan that actually get nuts, and they fly over a road, and they drop it on a road, and then they wait for cars to run over them, and then they can go down and eat them. Now, we also talk about the difference between a raven and crow. You know how crows and ravens seem always to be in people's attentions, from Edgar