Crows and Collaboration New Caledonian Crows Rapidly Solve a Collaborative Problem without Cooperative Cognition

What was the study?

The goal of this research was to study the cooperative cognition of caledonian crows. Cooperative cognition is one of the ways we determine and speak about human cognition and the evolution of such. In studying the cooperative cognition of crows, a species of animal that is well-known for its more human-like and complex intelligence, we may be able to determine how cooperative cognition evolved in humans. Other highly intelligent and social animals, such as elephants and chimpanzees, have shown to not only be able to work together to complete a task, but also seem to understand cooperation.

How was this research conducted and measured?

In these experiments, they had two crows separated by see-through mesh, with holes in it. One crow had a box in front of them with a hole in it, while the other had a stone. The intention of this is to make the crow with the stone pass said stone through a hole in the mesh to the other crow, so that crow can drop it into the box in front of it. Each trial would end when the crows successfully finished the task and earned their treat reward or when two minutes had passed, and testing repeated until the crows could successfully complete the task in 75% of trials within one experiment block. They recorded how many trials it took for the crows to first pass the stone, and then how many trials it took for them to succeed in the experiment. They also did a version of the trial where there was no crow on the other side to take the stone.

What did we find?

These experiments together found that, while the crows were capable of cooperation to complete a task, they didn't seem to hold an understanding of cooperation, as the crows were just as likely to pass the stone if there was or was not another crow on the other side. This means that, more likely, the behavior of passing the stone over was based on the reward they earned for doing so-they weren’t giving the stone to the other crow so that it could put the stone in the box and finish the task, rather, they were giving the stone to the other crow because it was given a treat whenever it did so. Thus, the crows did not demonstrate cooperative cognition in a way we understand in humans.