In Death, a Crow’s Big Brain Fires Up Memory, Learning

SEATTLE (AP) — Scientists for years have known that crows have great memories, that they can recognize a human face and behavior, and can pass that information onto their offspring.

Nowadays, researchers are trying to understand more about the crow's brain and behavior, specifically what it does when they see one of their own die.

Using masks that look creepily human, researchers showed up at Seattle parks carrying a stuffed crow. They recorded the reactions. The team also showed a stuffed crow to crows in a lab, and then measured brain activity.

The experiments found that the section of the brain involved in memory formation, the hippocampus, lights up at the sight of death, suggesting that crows are learning about the place, animal or person associated with a dead crow.