Crows and Pyrocognition Tools and food on heat lamps: pyrocognitive sparks in New Caledonian crows?

What was the study?

The purpose of this study was to study pyrocognition, the set of abilities related to how different species behave around fire. This study observed a pair of crows specifically, due to their high intelligence, along with their known usage of tools.This also holds the potential to tell us where pyrocognition comes from, and where it may have evolved. The researchers found that the two crows, similar to how how humans and human-like mammals (eg. apes) avoided touching the heat lamp in the study itself, instead using nearby tools-a wooden stick and a plastic straw-to test the heat. This is in the same way that we might use something else to test the heat of something-like water on a heating-up clothing iron. Chimpanzees are also known to remove burning cloth from their enclosure to put it out in water. Knowing this, we can guess that pyrocognition developed as an instinct early into evolution, as compared to being something that only humans understand innately.

How was this research conducted and measured?

The researchers placed a heat lamp in the enclosures of the two crows, along with tools to interact with, and observed the crows behavior through a camera. They both recorded footage of the crows using the tools to interact with the lamp, and found evidence later that suggested the same-one example being that they found a few plastic straws with both ends melted. The crows could not have learned this behavior from each other, as their enclosures were not in view of each other.

What did we find?

Caledonian crows do demonstrate a level of pyrocognition, an understanding and fear that fire is dangerous, and are capable of acting careful when faced with it. This demonstrates a higher level of cognition in the crows, making them more similar to humans in terms of intelligence, rather than if they were not capable of this. This also may help us understanding when pyrocognition was developed evolutionarily.