The Mentality of Crows: Convergent Evolution of Intelligence in Corvids and Apes | Zendy

Nathan J. Emery | Zendy; Nicola S. Clayton | Zendy

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The Mentality of Crows: Convergent Evolution of Intelligence in Corvids and Apes

Author(s) -

Nathan J. Emery,

Nicola S. Clayton

Publication year - 2004

Publication title -

science

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 12.556

H-Index - 1186

eISSN - 1095-9203

pISSN - 0036-8075

DOI - 10.1126/science.1098410

Subject(s) - chronesthesia , cognition , flexibility (engineering) , psychology , cognitive psychology , animal cognition , cognitive science , social cognition , social worlds , causal reasoning , convergent evolution , comparative cognition , episodic memory , biology , phylogenetics , sociology , neuroscience , social science , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics , gene

Discussions of the evolution of intelligence have focused on monkeys and apes because of their close evolutionary relationship to humans. Other large-brained social animals, such as corvids, also understand their physical and social worlds. Here we review recent studies of tool manufacture, mental time travel, and social cognition in corvids, and suggest that complex cognition depends on a "tool kit" consisting of causal reasoning, flexibility, imagination, and prospection. Because corvids and apes share these cognitive tools, we argue that complex cognitive abilities evolved multiple times in distantly related species with vastly different brain structures in order to solve similar socioecological problems.

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