The Remarkable Memory of Crows

Crows are often considered among the most intelligent birds, and their memory is legendary. They can remember human faces for years, even distinguishing between friendly and threatening individuals. If a crow feels wronged by a specific person, it will remember that face, hold a grudge, and even teach its offspring and other crows to harass that person. This remarkable memory extends to locations; they can remember thousands of food caching sites. Their cognitive abilities rival those of great apes in some tests. When you see a crow watching you, it might just be adding you to its mental database of who’s who in the neighborhood.