The D.U.Quark

Sao Mai Nguyen

A Dive Into the Society of Crows

Components of Culture

Norms, values, symbols, and material culture are the foundational pillars of any society’s culture. Norms guide behavior, values represent collective beliefs, symbols represent shared meanings, and material culture reflects tangible artifacts as well as any products of creativity (e.g., music, literature). These elements interweave to form the intricate tapestry of a culture, fostering a cohesive identity. 

Many believe that only humans possess the complexity to have culture; however, many other species have been found to hold the universal key elements of culture such as American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides). 

Norms

Norms are defined as a set of expectations, or rules, of behavior that society uses as social guidelines. While the concept of norms in the context of animal behavior may differ slightly from human norms, there is evidence to suggest that crows exhibit behaviors consistent with these concepts. American crows, native to North America, are highly social and intelligent birds. They all adhere to a set of social norms that guide their interactions within their own, and outside, communities. Crows like to be left alone and undisturbed by other animals and humans. If they feel violated, they see that as a transgression and retaliate with excessive scolding (through caws) and dive-bombing (a flight maneuver where the crow will fly above the perpetrator and then dive down).¹ Moreover, crows are shown to hold grudges; teaching their family, friends, and even strangers to take part in a mob or be wary of something.¹ Remarkably, in the event of a death in a flock, crows gather in a collective response, investigating potential threats and avoiding areas and people associated with the deceased.² However, crows also can exhibit pleasant behavior left undisturbed and even perform the fascinating act of gift-giving when given positive attention and fed.^{1, 3} 

Indigenous to the Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, New Caledonian crows exhibit societal norms within their communities as well. These crows are celebrated for their adeptness at crafting tools, a skill that has garnered significant attention from researchers. Beyond mere tool usage, they showcase diverse tool designs and techniques across various regional populations, highlighting the cultural intricacies within their species.⁴ This suggests a form of cultural transmission, where specific tool-making practices are passed down through generations within a group, indicating adherence to shared norms or traditions.⁴ Furthermore, experiments have shown that New Caledonian crows can learn from each other and adapt their behaviors based on social cues. For instance, they have been seen observing and mimicking the actions of other crows, indicating a form of social learning and potentially the transmission of values or preferences within the group.

Values

Cultural values are defined as the principles, standards, or qualities considered worthwhile or desirable, this term is somewhat synonymous with morals or ethics. As previously mentioned, crows can engage in gift-giving behaviors, and this can be interpreted as a form of morality and reciprocity as they have only been documented giving gifts to crows in their flock and humans who regularly feed them.³ This act of care and fairness highlights their advanced social cognition and ability to form symbiotic relationships. Specifically, when a crow was able to locate someone’s dropped lens, carried the lens back, cleaned the lens in the bird bath, and left the lens on the tray for her to see, this deliberate act suggests a sense of gratitude in social exchange. Crows show appreciation and strengthen social bonds by gifting valuable items to humans, demonstrating their deep intelligence and ability to engage in complex interactions resembling human moral norms.

Crows also engage in monogamous cooperative breeding, which means that crows only have one mate, but in a roost, many help to rear and take care of the offspring—even when unrelated.⁶ This alloparental care is a demonstration of altruism by caring for unrelated chicks and ultimately fostering a culture of mutual aid within their social groups. This highlights the complex social structure and moral principles that are the foundation for crow communities, emphasizing cooperation and collective well-being for their collective success.

New Caledonian crows can exhibit cultural transmission, social learning, and adaptive behaviors suggesting the presence of complex social dynamics akin to those observed in human societies, hinting at the existence of rudimentary values that build the social norms within their communities.⁴

Symbols

Symbols are defined as any object that is meant to represent or stand for another. Crows have not been observed creating their own, organic symbols; however, they have been shown to recognize quantitative symbols and understand complex concepts and puzzles.⁶ One complicated concept, often attributed to only humans, was recursion, which crows were able to comprehend through the recognition of center-embedded structures.⁶ Additionally, there has been research that suggests birds have an innate ability to understand numbers conceptually and through the use of other correlative symbols, enabling birds to utilize numerical cues for foraging and social decisions.⁷ 

Material Culture

Material culture is defined as that which is produced or put into practice based on ideas, values, or other components of culture. American crows make and use tools to obtain food.⁵ 

New Caledonian crows also make tools and are even able to manipulate and transfigure them to better retrieve food.⁸ This can be seen when a captive New Caledonian crow bent wire into hooks to access meat from a tube.⁹ These crows have a cumulative culture where there is social and intergenerational transmission of how to build tools and improvements across iterations.⁴ Researchers have experimented to see if these crows could perform spontaneous metatool use, meaning improvised tools employed to manipulate, enhance, or acquire a secondary tool.¹⁰ The usage of metatools reveals a higher level of tool usage, representing a substantial cognitive ability.¹⁰ New Caledonian crows have also been able to construct new tools to complete a task by assembling separate parts (one with up to four different components), also known as constructing a compound tool.¹¹

Crows have been seen using many different materials for different contexts for best utilization.⁶ This behavior demonstrates not only their innovation but also their ability to transmit knowledge across generations. Crows’ material culture, influenced by their ability to learn, problem-solve, and transmit cultural knowledge, is a key factor in their evolutionary success in diverse environments.

Sources

1. Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows 
2. Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger 
3. The girl who gets gifts from birds 
4. New Caledonian crows afford invaluable comparative insights into human cumulative technological culture 
5. American Crow Overview 
6. Crows Perform Yet Another Skill Once Thought Distinctively Human
7. Neurons in the Endbrain of Numerically Naive Crows Spontaneously Encode Visual Numerosity 
8. The Ecological Significance of Tool Use in New Caledonian Crows 
9. Shaping of Hooks in New Caledonian Crows 
10. Spontaneous Metatool Use by New Caledonian Crows 
11. Compound tool construction by New Caledonian crows

Image Sources (in order of appearance)

1. Paul Gloyer, American Crows (May 28, 2008)

Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates