--- title: "Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools" description: "Crows and their relatives are exceptional in terms of intelligence and using tools, which may contribute to their persistence as nuisance birds." url: "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog/crows-intelligence-and-their-use-of-tools" date: "2026-10-12T12:24:05+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- ## Breadcrumbs [Home](https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/) > [Blog](https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog) > Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools # Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools Details Written by: Dan Frankian Published: 12 October 2026 ## How Birds Use Tools There are certain behavioral markers we look for when measuring the intelligence of animal species, much like monitoring the brain development of a growing child. It spans from observing cats hissing at themselves in the mirror, unable to tell that it is just a reflection, to octopi freeing themselves from their own tanks and working their way into neighboring ones, opening complex locks along the way. A phenomenon that often leaves people mystified is the use of tools. Many bird species happen to be fairly adept at using objects as rudimentary tools to aid in solving man-made puzzles for a food reward. Crows and their relatives are exceptional in this regard, which may contribute to their persistence as nuisance birds.  ## What Makes a Tool? It is pretty easy to find an animal using objects in the wild, but it is not as simple to define whether said object is being used as a tool. Shumaker et al delve into this in their 2024 book, offering a list of animal behaviors and evaluating whether the instances constitute “tool use” from our human standpoint. For example, some bird species drop heavy objects onto food items to break them open, whereas others drop the *food*onto the heavy object. Are both of these species displaying the ability to understand and use tools? A similar comparison is comparing a bear standing to scratch its back on the trunk of a tree to, say, the Austrian cow seen using a broom to scratch herself. What about a shrike impaling a large insect on barbed wire to more effectively eat its prey, or a green heron dropping a bug into water to attract a fish? In order to define “tool use” simply, Shumaker’s team limits it to when an animal handles an object such that it can most effectively perform its desired task. Basically, the animal has to move the object around and change its positioning to make it practical. Then, we can call it a tool. Objects like the unchanged tree on which a bear scratches itself can be considered “proto-tools”. Under-crow: A Corvid Stone Age? ## New Caledonian Crows New Caledonia is an island in the Pacific Ocean, somewhat close to Australia and New Zealand. It is the only home of *Corvus moneduloides*, the New Caledonian crow, which is in the same genus as the fish crows that commonly pester Florida’s residents. Of the Corvidae family, they are often cited as the species with the most thorough tool use in the wild. In fact, the shape of their beak seems adapted to make it as easy as possible to hold their tools correctly! Oftentimes, New Caledonian crows will make tools from the leaves of screwpine plants, which naturally have a serrated edge. By carefully separating the leaf from the plant in multiple steps, they can create sturdy, tapered tools for removing grubs from tree bark. They also make hooked tools from woody desmathus twigs for similar reasons. Some tools are harder to make or better for gathering food; according to Klump et al, if a tool was *really*great, the crow actually took better care of it so it could be used later. In the wild, younger crows have been seen hanging around adult crows that were better at using tools to get food, being fed by the adult even into their second year of life, as per Wynn et al in 2024. The author mentions that this kind of long-term parental care creates a larger skill set for the bird. In lab settings, not only did New Caledonian crows make wire hooks and other tools that mimicked what they make in the wild, but they also made *more effective tools*out of multiple smaller pieces - before this observation by Bayern et al in 2018, this kind of toolmaking was unknown outside of primates! Because of how distant the most recent common ancestor between humans and avian species is, it is interesting to examine the parallels between our cognition. ### Other Examples Crows outside of New Caledonia offer insight as well. Hooded crows, found in Europe and Asia, are similar to their Pacific counterparts in that they can make objects that emulate things they had seen before. Smirnova et al rewarded crows with food for choosing certain objects, only to find that, without training, the crows would eventually tear pieces of paper to match what had been rewarded. American crows are one of many species seen to understand water displacement. If a basin of water has too low of a water level, leaving it just out of reach, they know to place stones or other objects in the water to raise the level. Interestingly, grackles are also seen to pass this test. Brain scans of trained crows by Pendergraft et al showed different activity levels in different brain areas based on how well they performed over time. Being faced with the puzzle again changed the activated areas of the brain… if a bird was good at it before, they *prepared themselves mentally*to solve it again! ## Respect For the Intellect of Crows It can be very helpful to look at tool use and cognition in animals, especially non-mammals, to see how it evolves over time. We can observe tool use, sociality, and learning across the animal kingdom and think about our own ancestors growing smarter over time. Unfortunately, being smart enough to solve problems does make nuisance crows harder to control. Pushing open the swinging lid of a trash can is a lot easier than making a hook, especially if there’s half a tasty sandwich inside. [Consider Hawkeye bird control services](https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog/index.php?Itemid=332) if you find your business affected by such mischief. If not, take some time to watch their antics, and imagine your ancestors in that state of affairs a few million years ago. *Research, writing and illustrations by Logan Bourgeois* ## JSON-LD Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/Organization/base", "name": "Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control LLC", "url": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/WebSite/base", "url": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/", "name": "Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control LLC", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/Organization/base" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/WebPage/base", "url": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog/crows-intelligence-and-their-use-of-tools", "name": "Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools", "description": "Crows and their relatives are exceptional in terms of intelligence and using tools, which may contribute to their persistence as nuisance birds.", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/WebSite/base" }, "about": { "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/Organization/base" }, "inLanguage": "en-GB" }, { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/com_content/article/76", "name": "Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools", "headline": "Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools", "inLanguage": "en-GB", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dan Frankian" }, "thumbnailUrl": "images/intelligent-crow.webp", "dateCreated": "2026-10-09T15:07:13+00:00", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/#/schema/WebPage/base" } } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Blog", "item": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Crows' Intelligence and Their Use of Tools", "item": "https://www.hawkeyebirdandanimalcontrol.com/blog/crows-intelligence-and-their-use-of-tools" } ] } ```