Crows have brains about the size of a walnut, but they pack in some serious computing power. In experiments, crows have solved multi-step puzzles, built hooks out of wire to fish food from tubes, and dropped nuts onto roads so cars would crack them open - then waited for the traffic light to change before collecting the snacks.
Most surprisingly, they recognize specific human faces and remember them for years. When researchers wearing scary masks captured crows for tagging, the crows started scolding anyone wearing that mask - even people who’d never met them. Other crows who weren’t there originally joined in the scolding, because they’d learned the mask was a threat.
Years later, the same crows (and now their children) still attack that mask. So if you’ve ever annoyed a crow, just know: it’s almost certainly told all its friends. It may even have told its kids.
