Social Corvids

Corvids are an incredibly intelligent family of birds that have exhibited strong cognitive capabilities and are shown to have strong social cognition as well. Corvids are members of the crow family, some of which include: crows, jays, magpies, and ravens (“Crows”, 2017). Through natural selection it is clear that it is important for the individual to obtain food in order to survive. So, it would only make sense for the individual corvid to discover a food source and to want to keep it all to itself. However, crows have actually exhibited the opposite. A study was conducted where a number of crows were observed to see how they interact with one another when foraging at a large food site, in this case a zoo. What was found was that the large

Instead of fighting off multiple crows for more food, the crow understands that the plentiful amount of food is enough for the group to feed from comfortably. The crow avoids conflict and coexists with its fellow species in order to benefit the individual as well as the group. Social interaction is key in certain species of corvid depending on their social interaction. A prime example is evidence showing that social corvids are able to achieve a social learning task quicker than they are to learn an individual task. This has a separate effect on more non-social species of corvid where they are able to achieve the tasks whether they were social or individual with no contrast in the amount of time taken to achieve them (Templeton, Kamil, & Balda, 1999). This is evidence for a specialization of task completion depending on the social aspect of the species. The more social corvids have adapted the ability to socially learn, which allows them to survive in a social environment. Their adaptations have led them to properly interact and coexist with its fellow