GERMAN STUDY PROVES RAVENS AS INTELLIGENT AS GREAT APES

A German study is giving new meaning to the term "bird brain" by showing that ravens are as smart as some of our closest ancestors, Elmar Stephan and Rachel More reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Scientists at Germany's Osnabrueck University and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology compared the physical and social cognitive skills of ravens with those of chimpanzees and orangutans, according to a statement released.

The researchers found that common ravens had already developed full-blown cognitive skills at the age of four months similar to those of adult apes in completing various tasks. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The findings were based on an experimental test originally developed for primates and adapted to be used on the birds. This involved hiding treats beneath an upturned cup and then changing its position next to other cups, to find out if the raven could follow where the food was - similar to a game of thimblerig.

The feathered friend then used its beak to point to the correct cup. "By four months of age, baby ravens are relatively independent and begin to take an interest in non-breeding associations," said Simone Pika, study leader from the Osnabrueck University's Institute of Cognitive Science.

These associations are loose flocks of up to several hundred birds - so the young ravens have to be cognitively ready for this new challenge. Eight ravens aged 4, 8, 12 and 16 months were assessed in the study using a variety of tasks, for example testing there spatial memory or social behaviors such as communication.

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