Crows can Count?!

Having seen two crows cooperate to lift a heavily weighted net off garbage bags waiting for the truck to take them away, it is easy to believe crows are clever. Who knew they can do math, too?

This is from Kyodo News:

Study finds crows can distinguish between symbols denoting quantities
Kyodo


MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — Researchers recently found that crows can recognize symbols representing different quantities, successfully selecting containers holding hidden food items when given a choice based only on symbols.

The research by Shoei Sugita, a professor of animal morphology at Utsunomiya University in Tochigi Prefecture, and others confirmed for the first time that crows can distinguish quantities of items, suggesting they have the same numerical cognition ability as humans.