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Talk5 min

How smart are crows?

Katharina Brecht · TED

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About

In one of Aesop’s fables, a crow is searching for water. It spies a pitcher— but the water inside is beyond its reach. So, the crow begins dropping in pebbles. One-by-one, they displace the water, and the crow quenches its thirst. This is just one of many fascinating displays of intelligence from corvids. Katharina Brecht digs into what makes this bold, brainy family of songbirds so smart. [Directed by Irida Zhonga, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen, music by Phil Brookes].

The talk

  1. How smart are crows? 5 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED-Ed
Speaker
Katharina Brecht
Year
2025
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Psychology and the brain, Teaching and learning
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed