Crows recognize, and remember, human faces
Yoder says: "University of Washington scientists have shown that crows recognize individual human faces, and hold grudges against people who have been mean to them in the past."
Friend or Foe? Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems (New York Times)To test the birds’ recognition of faces separately from that of clothing, gait and other individual human characteristics, Dr. Marzluff and two students wore rubber masks. He designated a caveman mask as “dangerous” and, in a deliberate gesture of civic generosity, a Dick Cheney mask as “neutral.” Researchers in the dangerous mask then trapped and banded seven crows on the university’s campus in Seattle.
In the months that followed, the researchers and volunteers donned the masks on campus, this time walking prescribed routes and not bothering crows.
The crows had not forgotten. They scolded people in the dangerous mask significantly more than they did before they were trapped, even when the mask was disguised with a hat or worn upside down. The neutral mask provoked little reaction.
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Telling the caveman mask from the lass on the left or, even, Dick Cheney, isn't that much of a feat.
It only appears to look like a face to us because it is a caricature - it exaggerate the traits humans use to identify something as a face.
The crows might simply be reacting to anyone with a face that is far bigger, compared to the head, than a normal human.
To test if crows can recognize actual human faces, the researchers would have to use far more realistic masks.
I suspect that the researchers in question simply sent an undergrad to the costume shop, without thinking to tell him what sort of mask to get.
End experimental protocol rant.
Oops. I retract my previous post. This is a very cool, well-designed and well-thought out experiment.
Spazzm, also note that the experiment was inspired by previous observations that the crows seemed to recognize particular scientists who had captured them before. I also came across this page by a Cornell scientist which mentions similar observations:
"Crows do have one endearing characteristic that is apparently not shared by other birds. They will get to know people as individuals. While you can get chickadees to eat out of your hand, any old hand will do, and I suspect that the chickadees do not know you as an individual. Crows will! If you toss them peanuts (I recommend unsalted, in the shell) on a regular basis, they will wait and watch for you. Not just any person, but you. If you do this often enough, they will follow you down the street to get more. I have made a point of getting on the good side of a number of crow families around Ithaca. Some will follow my car down the street, and if I don't notice them and toss them peanuts they will dash across the windshield to let me know they are there. Some of these crows recognize me far from their home territories, way out of context. (It did, however, take some of them a long time to learn to recognize my new car.) So indulge yourself and makes some personal friends with the crows. That is the preferred relationship, because they also are happy to turn this talent of recognition to the darker side, and treat you as an enemy. (Again, not just all people, but YOU.) Because I climb to crow nests to band young birds, many crows in Ithaca know me and hate me. Whenever they notice me in their territory they will come over and yell at me. They will follow me around and keep yelling for as long as I am there. Believe me, it's better to be on their good side than their bad side!"
Aww, it's cute when scientists claim to have discovered the obvious. Now let's have an experiment discovering that humans recognize each other too--it's something we all know from experience, but has it been proven by Science?!
My girlfriend said she was mean to a crow on the first day of Junior High when she was a kid, and for the whole year, she couldn't go outside without crows circling and swooping down on her. She'll be glad to hear it wasn't just her imagination that they remembered her and held a grudge.
I would be curious to see if the researchers could brand a "neutral" mask as "dangerous" by associating it with the caveman mask. Have the Cheney mask walk around with the already "dangerous"-branded caveman mask in view of the crows for a week or so, then send the Cheney mask out alone and see what happens. Would the "neutral" mask then be seen as "dangerous" by association?
Totally agree with back seat astronaut.
Complete waste of time on discovering the obvious.
How about research to prove that your dog, or your cat recognise individuals. Your children?
That _crows_ can recognize and remember people by their faces long-term is "obvious"? And that's somehow similar to noting that dogs can do the same? I don't know, it was news to me. Perhaps I don't interact with crows enough.
Crows are badass.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/261
#8, Indeed, perhaps you don't. Go take a walk.
Thad E Giantoam, I'm fairly certain dogs can't recognize human faces. They can recognize humans by smell or sound, sure, but they don't have very good eyesight.
...and with me just beginning G.R.R. Martin's 'A Feast for Crows'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Feast_for_Crows
coincidence? Oh. I don't think so.
Sounds like the perfect prank - teach the crows around DC to treat Cheney as dangerous.
BREAKING NEWS:
US declares war on terrorist crows!
Meh, I'll wait to get excited once scientists test the theory that crows are the link between this world and the underworld, and can resurect the dead.
A guy in my company has a crow as a "pet". His family has been feeding the crow for 8 years (and they know it's the same one because it has a bad foot). In the mornings the crow lands outside the bedroom by the window, looking for the family, and if they're not there it lands outside the living room to check there, and it follows them around when they walk outside. Pretty neat. I guess crows are smarter (and nicer) than they look.
Now let's have an experiment discovering that humans recognize each other too--it's something we all know from experience, but has it been proven by Science?!
LOL. I'll have to remember this, next time one of my friends has trouble coming up with a PhD topic.
Sounds like the perfect prank - teach the crows around DC to treat Cheney as dangerous.
My thoughts exactly.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/02/cyborg_flying_r.html
The TED talk guy mentioned this ability. I'm pretty sure he was talking about crows, not starlings.
@14 -
Good point Bonnie. I think it best not to assume they can't, and therefore be very respectful to them just in case. :)
PaulM: Yeah, pretty much all corvids are badass.
Mind of the Raven
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/06_00/Mind_raven_review.php
More experimental protocol ranting: I can't tell if the researchers did this even after RTFA, but I sure hope they switched (i.e., counter balanced) the neutral/dangerous masks in another group of crows to control for those particular masks (even the realistic ones) being innately dangerous or neutral to crows.
This is valid and legitimate scientific research. Saying "it's common sense, studying it is pointless" is rather ignorant of how science works. Much of what is "common sense" is false. Furthermore, even if we are fairly sure something is true, science allows us to ask the more specific questions of how much, for how long, under what conditions, and why, questions for which "common sense" can only make uncertain estimates.
As a fully certified ornithophobe, this is not good news. Cool, but frightening.
Thankfully I'm not habitually mean to birds (or at all).
Lol I think Dick Cheney is so evil that the crows just don't want to push their luck and have the same fate as his "hunting buddy"
P-R: Good read.
"And Tippi Hedren In Particular" as the NYT print edition observed.
Part of me, the cynical, who-gives-a-crap part, wants to borrow an oft-used line from Fark.com and say, "Meanwhile, still no cure for cancer."
The other part of me, the bird-watching, nature-inquisitive part, thinks this is really cool.
Crows rock.
Mockingbirds remember people, too. My daughter swatted one that was dive-bombing our cat (with good reason, the cat had mauled a fledgling).
The mockingbird would find her wherever she was around the house (front yard, backyard, curb) and scold her, and wag its butt at her.
Like a bird stalker.
#4 back seat astronaut
"Now let's have an experiment discovering that humans recognize each other too--it's something we all know from experience, but has it been proven by Science?!"
Actually, in _my_ personal experience, it's something that doesn't always happen. One day last winter I completely failed to recognize a co-worker who had been working with me for months - because he was wearing an overcoat and a watch cap. I have serious trouble recognizing people by their faces, and usually rely on their general physical characteristics (height, build), behavior characteristics (the appearance/sound of their walk) and a mental catalog of their wardrobes.
I picked up a baby crow in my yard last spring - much to its (and its parents) chagrin. They terrorized me for the rest of the summer, following me down the street, swooping down and calling me names...phoning late at night...harassing my kids...
OK well the first part is true!
Crows are T-lymphocytes in the planets immune system.
To innoculate the world, we must all don George W. Bush masks and find crows to harass, so they are primed to attack the true source of the infection.
DANEGELD: GWB has a bird phobia, or so I read on the internet, so that could be a lot more amusing that originally intended.
back seat astronaut: "Now let's have an experiment discovering that humans recognize each other too--it's something we all know from experience, but has it been proven by Science?!"
In many cases humans have a great deal of difficulty recognizing each other, and science has done well to investigate this. Take change blindness, for example. People often have trouble recognizing a switch in people, especially when that person is different from them in age or social group. Take this video from a real experiment from the University of Illinois about age and change blindness:
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/flashmovie/12.php
And social group and change blindness:
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/flashmovie/10.php
By manipulating subtle details in the experiments above, the researchers were able to alter the chance that someone was recognized as changing from nearly 100% to 35%. More details here:
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/djs_lab/demos.html
Science FTW.
Scientists taught innocent creatures to recognize Cheney as "neutral" rather than "threat?" That's just a cruel prank that will end in the deaths of countless test subjects if they ever come across the real Cheney.
GWB has a bird phobia? I KNEW IT!
http://vwt.d2g.com:8081/mars_attacks.jpg
I'm always dumbfounded by "news" stories like this i.e. "New study shows animals actually think/feel/are smart/have emotions etc." Anyone who has spent any time around animals already knows this for a fact. Heck, I had aquarium fish 40 years ago that unquestionably knew me from other humans. People just like to deny what they know in order to assuage their guilt over animal cruelty and meat-eating.
#35: "I had aquarium fish 40 years ago that unquestionably knew me from other humans."
The problem is that it's very difficult to tell this as fact, especially when you're a pet owner. It's just so easy to say "I came in the room and he swum my way!!! Aw, it's because he loves me!"
I'm not saying that your fish didn't recognize you, nor am I saying that you're not an accurate observer, but the reason that double-blind experiments are run is because this kind of subconscious bias is just too easy.
That said, if you can run a good, scientifically valid study that your fish could recognize your face, I think that you'd find many places to publish it (BoingBoing included, naturally).
I have great respect for crows.
I have a cockatiel whose wings I keep clipped. She accompanies me outside on occasion. Once she flew a very short distance off my shoulder and landed on the lawn. A hawk instantly swooped in for the attack, but was harried by a crow en route who thwarted the attack. Most amazing thing to witness. Needless to say, the cockatiel's outside time is very restricted now.
A neighbor of mine raised a fledgling crow that had fallen from its nest to adolescence, then released it back to nature. It remained in the neighborhood, answered to the name "Edgar" and would light on my neighbor's arm when he called it. That was astounding, as crows are very nervous and suspicious birds, rarely letting a stranger within 10 feet of them.
I would not be surprised if many bird species have the brain power to recognize individuals. My cockatiel certainly does, as do most hookbills I'm sure. I once had a very smart parakeet too, and I'm sure others here can tell similar stories. While my cockatiel is unable to understand that her reflection is herself, I have otherwise never seen her make the same mistake twice. Hookbills have very interesting memory and brain wiring for such small animals.
#28, There are probably exceptions among crows too.
#32, similarly misses the point.
it's dangerous keeping birds as companions. The longer you live together, the more you realize the depths of the intelligence you are sharing with and the harder it gets to even eat chickens.... who was it again who had a chicken named Hortense?
#38: I don't think it really was so obvious that crows recognize faces.
1) I don't think it's obvious that even high-cognition animals have a natural ability to recognize faces of members of other species. I don't think I could easily recognize different white mice by their faces alone, without a lot of experience and practice. The ability to recognize and categorize the facial features of white mice is not something my brain has ever had to do, and, thus inexperienced, it would have a very hard time doing it. Until our brain can start to understand what differences in a form are salient and what aren't, it has trouble even recognizing what differences should be considered "features" and what should be ignored.
2) I don't think it's so obvious that all animals can recognize faces even from their own species. I think they found recently that sheep can recognize each other's faces, but can white mice? Or do they do it based on odor, or body shape? Can bats?
3) I don't think it's so obvious that just because your pet crow recognizes you means that they can recognize your face. Again, what about your body shape, or the gait of your walk?
4) If the ability of crows to recognize faces is so obvious, how about, say, the ability to recognize hands? Photographers who work with hand models certainly recognize hands well, and I can recognize the hands of my family, but not so well after that, but can crows? And if they can't, maybe that says something interesting about the greater importance of the face deep in our social brain networks, and the similarity of their social brain wiring to ours.
There are many interesting questions that this kind of research can uncover, but perhaps you should simply write to them all the answers before hand?
SamSam and Christovir: FTW
BackSeatAstronaut, Thad and JuliaDee: FTL
..and I didn't mean Faster Than Light :)
was gonna ask...