Ravens have impressive cognitive skills when interacting with conspecifics.
Ravens have impressive cognitive skills when interacting with conspecifics - comparable to many primates, whose social intelligence has been related to their life in groups. An international collaboration of researchers led by Thomas Bugnyar, Professor at the Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, could uncover for the first time the group dynamics of non-breeding ravens. The results help to understand the evolution of intelligence in this species and were published in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports". Several recent studies have revealed that ravens are among the most intelligent species of birds and even species in general. But which factors caused the evolution of intelligence? According to a common hypothesis life in social groups can drive brain evolution especially when individuals benefit from remembering the identity of conspecifics and the interactions with them. With such knowledge, animals can avoid conflicts with higher ranking group members or develop alliances to gain better access to resources. Researchers around Thomas Bugnyar in Austria and colleagues in France outfitted around 30 ravens with little "backpacks", which measured with GPS the position of the animal every hour.
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