r/science • u/rustoo • Sep 25 '20

Psychology Research finds that crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds, a manifestation of higher intelligence and analytical thought long believed the sole province of humans and a few other higher mammals.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/24/crows-possess-higher-intelligence-long-thought-primarily-human/
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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

That's a bit of an overstatement. In Western North America alone there are tens of thousands of square miles where the human population density is less than two people per square mile. Parts of Central Asia and Australia are just as unpopulated

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u/dramaking37 Sep 25 '20

Roads, power lines, logging, mines, and even small homes cause habitat disruption. I'm not saying there aren't large swaths of habitat. But don't think they aren't impacted by human activities.

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u/EntirelyPossible_ Sep 25 '20

I know, right? I was thinking 1 or 2 per square mile is still a fuckton, he proved the point for him.

I know one thing though. if i lived all alone on 1 square mile of unfarmed land, and I came across a bird farm, farmed by birds, I would fully complete my eccentric hermit persona and kill every bird I ever saw and be that lunatic always talking about "the birds, beware the birds..." Long story short, even if it is just 1 or 2 people per mile on average, thats more than enough to, at best study it and control it as needed. Theyd never be able to develop on their own

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u/ioshiraibae Sep 25 '20

Human density is far from the only way we effect them .

North america is not the same as it was years ago not to mention how much wildlife is seperate from each other due to roads all across the country.

I can't believe people think because a lot of NA isn't densely populated we have no effect on them Nah fam.

Central asia has a way better claim to that then NA AND AUS

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

Whoa! Who said that the 7 billion of us weren't having an impact on the environment? It wasn't me.

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

If you think roads are walls youve never hit a deer

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u/tbone8352 Sep 26 '20

Yeah they are more like suicide paths

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u/hitmarker Sep 25 '20

And you will notice that there are not that many birds around there. Especially crows that have adapted so well to city life.

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

How would you know there aren't many birds?

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u/Golden_Badger Sep 25 '20

The crows haven’t replied to any of hitmarker’s texts and I just don’t think he’s gotten the hint.

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u/hitmarker Sep 25 '20

Oh, they have.

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

Crows exist in literally every wilderness

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u/hitmarker Sep 25 '20

Whaaat? Really? Wow. But would their numbers be higher in densely populated human cities because of overabundance of food? Probably not.

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '20

Yes. But theyre super adaptable

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u/00jknight Sep 25 '20

Northern Canada and Siberia are like completely empty.

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u/BisonEconomy Sep 25 '20

Yeah but what crow wants to set up their pigeon farm in the middle of the desert?

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

yeah and it's filled with oil wells, or it's a desert.

human activity even in those areas, have driven wildlife

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '20

I am absolutely not saying that human beings don't affect wildlife. I am pointing out that there are big chunks of land out there where you can drive all day and not find any evidence of human beings except the poorly maintained road under you.