It is usually thought that only humans can understand each other. However, a new study suggests that ravens can read each other's minds as well.
Ravens are considered by many cultures as a symbol of wisdom and intelligence. The new research has shown that they are able to think abstractly about other minds and adapt their behavior in consequence.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications. The research team has found that, if a nearby peephole was open, ravens guarded caches of food in response to the sounds of other ravens. This behavior was observed even if the ravens did not see another bird. When the peephole was closed the birds did not show the same concern, despite the auditory cues.
The findings prove the ability of ravens to attribute mental states to others, according to Cameron Buckner, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Houston. Buckner, together with Stephan A. Reber and Thomas Bugnyar, cognitive biologists at the University of Vienna, are the authors of the research study.
Until now, most research involving animal communication has been done with species closely tied to humans such as chimpanzees. Those previous studies have also suggested that animals can understand what others see but in their case the test subjects had the possibility to see each another's eyes or head. These are called "gaze cues." Skeptics argue that in these experiments animals do not real understand what others see but might be responding only to surface cues.
Phys.org shared that the authors of the new study tried to avoid the question whether any nonhuman animal, without relying on behavioral cues, can attribute the concept 'seeing'. Buckner explained that in their experiment the researchers avoided that concern by using sound and open peepholes to indicate the presence of a possible competitor.
Buckner added that ravens are a good subject for study, because, similar to people, their social lives go through several distinct phases. The new research offers important information in several fields and suggests that in further studies involving social cognition ravens could serve as animal models.
