Exploring the intelligence of corvids
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British Science Week: BSU students explore the incredible intelligence of corvids
Wednesday, 12 March, 2025Do you ever get the feeling that crow you’ve spotted in your periphery is... plotting something? Research projects conducted by students at Bath Spa University may prove those suspicions are correct.
Over the past four years, students on BSU’s Life Sciences courses have conducted dissertation research projects looking at the learning and problem-solving abilities of rooks and jackdaws – members of the corvid (crow) family known for their exceptional intelligence – under the supervision of Senior Lecturer in Zoology and Programme Leader for BSc Wildlife Conservation Dr Ralph Thompson.
Corvids display remarkable intelligence for animals of their size and are among the most intelligent birds we know of. They have demonstrated self-awareness in mirror tests as well as tool-making ability – skills which until recently were thought to be possessed only by humans and a few other primates.
By rigging up puzzles around campus, students are studying how BSU’s resident rooks and jackdaws use their wits to solve problems and reward themselves with a tasty snack. One puzzle consists of a clear plastic box with strings the birds must pull to get to the food inside. Another, based on Aesop’s fable The Crow and the Pitcher, comprises a bottle of water and several small stones. To drink the water, the bird must drop the stones into the bottle to raise the water level for it to access.
Third year Environmental Science student Thalia Anderson, who is currently leading the investigation, explained:
“Corvids are a highly intelligent group of birds, with cognitive abilities often compared to those of a seven-year-old child or a great ape. My dissertation focuses on the local rook and jackdaw colonies on campus. It tests their ability to solve a problem to retrieve a food reward, inspired by one of Aesop's fables. Most studies like this have been conducted on corvids in captivity, so with the added distraction of many food options – will the corvids challenge themselves and complete the task?”
By observing the birds and recording their attempts and successes, students have found that the birds are able to learn from their trials and solve many challenges, but further research is needed to investigate whether they understand how the puzzles work or are just relying on trial-and-error learning.
The historic buildings and woodland at BSU’s Newton Park campus provides ideal nesting sites for jackdaws and rooks, and these surroundings offer ideal opportunities to study their behaviour. This is just one way BSU’s campus provides a ‘living laboratory’ where students can study wildlife and natural processes on their doorstep.
Dr Ralph Thompson, Programme Leader for BSc in Wildlife Conservation said:
“Newton Park not only provides a beautiful environment but also allows our students to regularly put the theory that they learn about into practice, in activities as varied as testing levels of chemicals in the soil to creatively photographing the animals and plants that we see in the parkland, woodland and on the lakes.”
Other projects that take advantage of BSU’s ‘living laboratory’ include the TITS AFAR project, remotely investigating the feeding and breeding of smaller birds, research into the use of different habitat types by our resident bat species, a study of which lichen species prefer to grow on which tree species and annual monitoring of the invertebrates in Corston Brook and the rare Great Crested Newts in our campus ponds.
Are you inspired by the natural world? Explore our Life Science courses, or discover five reasons to study science at BSU.