Carrion crows can create, prepare, and use tools with great precision

Humans often consider tool use a mark of intelligence. Yet many animals find creative ways to solve problems. A new study reveals how carrion crows – which seldom use tools in the wild – can learn to master them when trained.

Their performance suggests that with only small evolutionary changes, they might one day adopt tools as part of their natural behavior.

Researchers from the University of Tübingen trained three carrion crows to handle sticks and retrieve food pellets placed inside a transparent Plexiglas box.

From beaks to borrowed sticks

The birds could not access the pellets with their beaks, so they had to explore with sticks. Success depended on careful manipulation: moving the pellet too quickly risked losing it from the platform.

“Tool use is very rare in the animal kingdom, but relatively common in dexterous generalists such as primates, parrots, and corvids,” said lead author Felix Moll.

Only two crow species – the New Caledonian and Hawaiian crow – use tools regularly. This experiment tested whether carrion crows could, with training, refine similar skills.

Crows master deliberate tool actions

The crows did more than just copy actions. They aligned sticks carefully with their beaks and guided food into reach.

“The crows first picked up the stick from a holder and adjusted it until they were grasping it so that it was precisely aligned with their beak. Then they used it to guide the pellet within reach,” said Moll. They even returned the stick to the holder before eating.

Recordings showed early awkwardness: sticks shoved pellets back and forth with little success. Over time, movements became refined, efficient, and highly repeatable.

“By comparison, recordings of later training sessions showed extremely precise movement patterns. The movements of the stick varied little in standard situations; the crows determinedly guided the food pellet to one side of the box and fished it out,” said co-author Julius Würzler.

Practice reveals hidden intelligence

The study used pose estimation to analyze thousands of trials. It found that the crows improved through reinforcement learning, a trial-and-error process where variability early on helped them discover effective strategies.

This variability mirrors processes seen in human motor learning, where exploration refines skill.

Such parallels remind us that intelligence does not always require a complex evolutionary leap. Sometimes, it is about applying existing flexibility to new challenges.

Crows show flexible problem-solving

Each crow developed its own style – some preferred sliding pellets out to one side, while others adjusted depending on pellet position.

These strategies were consistent and efficient, highlighting not just learned precision but also individuality in problem-solving. The presence of personal approaches suggests that tool use is not a rigid behavior but a dynamic process shaped by learning and constant feedback.

Mistakes added another layer of insight: when a pellet slipped from control, the crows reacted within fractions of a second, adjusting stick movements to regain control.

Such rapid corrections revealed continuous monitoring and flexibility, showing a level of awareness that goes beyond instinct and hinted at truly adaptive cognition.

Tool grip reveals hidden intelligence

Another striking behavior was how they adjusted stick orientation before use. Often, the stick was misaligned when pulled from the dispenser.

The crows tossed and re-gripped it until alignment was perfect. This fine motor adjustment revealed an advanced capacity to prepare tools for effective use.

“Animal tool use is supported by a number of enabling factors: motivation, conceptual knowledge and advanced cognitive skills, as well as fine motor control,” said co-author Andreas Nieder.

The carrion crows displayed all of these, suggesting their brains integrate the stick as part of their own body. Similar processes occur in primates, where neurons adapt to represent the working end of tools.

Crows hint at evolution

The findings show that non-habitual tool users can still reach high levels of dexterity. This supports the idea of “tooling,” where animals treat body and object as one system.

Such results deepen our understanding of cognition in birds and may guide future research into neural mechanisms.

“If woodpeckers didn’t already – with their highly-specialized long tongues – fish beetle larvae out of their burrows in dead wood, this nutritious source of protein might one day be exploited by carrion crows using tools,” Moll adds.

These experiments suggest that with only small evolutionary nudges, carrion crows could naturally evolve into regular tool users.

The work also invites reflection on intelligence across species: when given the right opportunities, animals may reveal skills that once seemed uniquely human.

Click here to watch videos of carrion crows using precision tools…

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

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