How Smart Is a Crow at Solving Complex Puzzles?

TL;DR

Crows can apply cause and effect, recognize human faces, manipulate objects, and use tools to pursue food. A crow named Cheryl was presented with nine connected puzzles involving water displacement, weight, facial recognition, money collection, tool shaping, stacking, coordinated pulling, and gravity, with each completed task electronically activating the next stage and ultimately unlocking a protected meal.

Transcript

These juicy nuggets are the favorite food of an incredibly intelligent crow, but they're being defended by this bird cage. Because if she wants to gain access to the nuggets, she'll need to first solve the nine increasingly difficult puzzles I designed to protect them. This crow escape room gauntlet is extremely challenging. So challenging in fact,... Read More

Key Insights

• Crows are presented as highly capable problem solvers that can understand cause and effect, interact with human-made objects, manipulate their surroundings, and pursue rewards strategically. Cheryl’s curiosity and repeated engagement with favorite objects helped guide the design of the intelligence test.
• The nine-puzzle gauntlet is a connected system in which solving one challenge activates a light or mechanism leading to the next. Electronic components include an Arduino, copper contacts, switches, NFC readers, a strain gauge, a tilt switch, and infrared sensors.
• The water-displacement puzzle requires Cheryl to place heavy rocks into a graduated cylinder so the rising water brings her wooden ball within reach. Cork and cotton balls serve as decoys because they float and do not raise the water level in the required way.
• The facial-recognition puzzle requires Cheryl to identify the experimenter’s portrait among decoy faces and pull the associated leather strap. She had previously been trained to associate his picture with a treat, and three consecutive correct selections were required to continue.
• The cash-grab puzzle tests whether Cheryl can place three dollar bills into a collection box. Each bill contains an NFC chip, and registering all three causes a microcontroller and servo motor to open a compartment containing a tool needed for the next task.
• The fishing-hole puzzle requires Cheryl to transport a tool, bend its end into a hook, and retrieve a cup from a container. A strain gauge monitors the system’s weight and activates the next puzzle when it detects that exactly one cup has been removed.
• The cup-stacking puzzle works through copper rings embedded in the cups. Each correctly stacked cup moves the electrical contacts closer to completing a circuit, while the cup retrieved from the fishing challenge completes the circuit and activates the tourist-trap station.
• The final challenges require coordinated physical actions rather than a single learned response. Cheryl must pull and pin a string until a ship tilts, then use gravitational potential energy to break an egg and expose an infrared emitter that signals the cage to rise.

Questions & Answers

Q: How was the crow intelligence test designed?

The test was designed as a nine-part escape-room gauntlet centered on a protected serving of nuggets. Cheryl had to complete connected challenges involving water displacement, weight, facial recognition, money collection, tool use, stacking, coordinated pulling, and gravity. Sensors and microcontrollers detected successful actions, activated lights, opened compartments, and ultimately controlled the cage protecting the food.

Q: How does the water-displacement crow puzzle work?

A favorite wooden ball is placed inside a graduated cylinder, too low for Cheryl to reach directly with her beak. Heavy rocks, cork, and cotton balls are available nearby. The intended solution is to add the rocks one at a time, raising the water and ball. When the water reaches copper tape contacts, the completed circuit signals an Arduino to activate the next puzzle.

Q: What abilities do the nine crow puzzles test?

The gauntlet tests several abilities through connected tasks: understanding water displacement, adding enough weight to tip a scale, recognizing a trained human face, depositing three bills, transporting and shaping a tool, retrieving and stacking cups, coordinating the beak and feet while pulling a string, and using gravity to break an object and expose a sensor.

Q: How is facial recognition tested in the crow challenge?

A picture of the experimenter was placed in Cheryl’s enclosure before the gauntlet, and pulling the leather strap below that face produced a treat. During the test, portraits of several people rotate into view. Cheryl must pull the strap and ring the bell associated with the experimenter’s face, even when his clothing changes, three consecutive times to advance.

Q: How does the crow use money to obtain a tool?

The cash-grab challenge provides three dollar bills that must be placed into a collection box. Each bill contains an NFC chip, while an NFC reader sits near the box opening. Once the reader detects that all three bills have been deposited, it informs a microcontroller, which activates a servo motor and opens a door containing the tool required for the fishing task.

Q: How does the fishing-hole puzzle test tool use?

Cheryl must carry the tool released by the previous puzzle to the fishing hole, bend its end into a hook shape, insert it into the opening, and pull out a cup. The container rests on a strain gauge that continuously measures its weight. When the system becomes lighter by exactly one cup, the mechanism recognizes success and illuminates the next challenge.

Q: How do the final crow puzzles unlock the food?

In the shipwreck puzzle, Cheryl must remove a cork, pull a string upward, and repeatedly pin the string beneath her foot until the ship tilts backward. That tilt activates the egg-drop challenge. She must then use gravitational potential energy to break the egg, exposing an infrared emitter that triggers a sensor at the table and signals the protective cage to rise.

Q: Why were nuggets used as the reward for the crow?

Nuggets were chosen because neighborhood crows had repeatedly learned to associate food-delivery arrivals with meals left on the experimenter’s porch. They stole delivered food, including nuggets, and one crow also knocked over his drink. The gauntlet turned that conflict into a structured intelligence test, with Cheryl’s preferred food placed visibly behind a reverse bird cage as motivation.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• After neighborhood crows repeatedly stole delivered food from his porch, the experimenter began investigating how intelligent crows really are. Research examples showed them manipulating other birds, recognizing people, interacting with human objects, using tools, and pursuing better food through strategic behavior. These observations inspired a controlled challenge involving Cheryl, a sanctuary crow.

• Cheryl was observed for several months before the challenge was built. Her curiosity, preferred wooden ball, play behavior, and apparent understanding of cause and effect informed a nine-part escape-room gauntlet. A protected serving of nuggets served as the final reward, while lights and electronic sensors connected each completed puzzle to the next one.

• The nine puzzles tested water displacement, weight manipulation, facial recognition, object exchange, tool transport and shaping, cup stacking, playful participation, coordinated beak-and-foot movement, and the use of gravity. Arduino signals, copper contacts, switches, NFC readers, strain gauges, and infrared components allowed successful actions to activate later stages and eventually raise the cage.