We're sure you have your favourite animal. It may even be a really smart one. But corvids - such as crows, magpies and ravens - really are something special. In fact, they're some of the most intelligent animals in the world.
我们确信你有你最喜欢的动物，它甚至可能是一个非常聪明的动物。但是，乌鸦，喜鹊等鸦科动物确实很特别。事实上，它们是世界上最聪明的动物之一。
And here we've gathered some of the finest examples of just how clever these gorgeous creatures can be.
在这里，我们收集了一些最优秀的例子来说明这些美丽的生物有多聪明。
1. Crows can reason out cause and effect
1。乌鸦能找出因果关系。
In a test on New Caledonian crows, crows were placed in an enclosure wherein a stick would emerge from a hide. They used two scenarios: in the first, a human was observed entering the hide before the stick moved, and leaving after. In the second, the human remained hidden.
在对新喀里多尼亚乌鸦的测试中，乌鸦被放在一个围栏里，在那里一根棍子会从一个兽皮里伸出来。他们使用了两个场景：第一个场景中，观察到一个人在棍子移动之前进入了兽皮，之后离开。在第二种情况下，人类仍然隐藏着。
In the first, the crows were much more relaxed after the human left, correctly linking the movement of the stick to the presence of the human. They would forage for food, and behave normally. In the second, the crow had no other reference for the stick's presence, so they remained wary.
首先，乌鸦在人类离开后更加放松，正确地将棍子的运动与人类的存在联系起来。他们会觅食，行为正常。在第二种情况下，乌鸦没有其他的关于棍子存在的参考物，所以他们保持警惕。
"These results really seem to be showing that crows react in a very similar way to humans in a situation that requires them to reason about a hidden causal agent," says biologist Alex Taylor.
生物学家亚历克斯·泰勒说：“这些结果似乎真的表明，乌鸦对人类的反应非常相似，在这种情况下，乌鸦需要对隐藏的因果因素进行推理。”
2. Crows understand water displacement
2. 乌鸦懂得水的位移
In an experiment with tubes published in PLOS One, scientists determined that New Caledonian crows can not only tell the difference between water and sand - they also understand water displacement.
在一项发表在PLOS One上的试管实验中，科学家们发现新喀里多尼亚乌鸦不仅能分辨水和沙的区别——它们还能理解水的位移。
The test involved tubes containing water and a treat floating on top out of reach. The crows filled the tubes with enough rocks or other heavy items to bring the food within reach.
这项测试包括装有水的管子和漂浮在水面上的处理方法。乌鸦在管子里装满了足够多的石头或其他重物，以便把食物带到伸手可及的地方。
They also were presented with different scenarios, such as tubes with different water levels. The crows showed an absolute preference for the tube that would get them the food with the least amount of work.
他们也有不同的场景，如不同水位的管道。乌鸦对管子表现出绝对的偏爱，因为管子能让它们以最少的工作量获得食物。
Their success rate was on a par with seven-year-old children, the researchers said.
研究人员说，他们的成功率与7岁儿童相当。
3. Crows hold a grudge - and pass that grudge on to other crows
3. 乌鸦会怀恨在心——把怨恨传递给其他乌鸦。
Ever wonder why crow researchers sometimes wear masks? It's because crows can recognise human faces, especially the faces of humans who have done them wrong.
有没有想过为什么乌鸦研究人员有时戴口罩?这是因为乌鸦能认出人的脸，特别是那些做错了人的脸。
So, if you're trying to record how crows react to negative stimuli (such as being caught and tagged), you don't want to do that using your real face. If you do, you'll get loudly scolded by the agitated flock every time you approach, as biologist John Marzluff discovered and detailed in a 2011 paper.
所以，如果你试图记录乌鸦对负面刺激的反应(比如被抓到并贴上标签)，你就不想用你真实的脸来做这件事。如果你这样做了，你每次接近时都会被激动的羊群大声责骂，生物学家约翰·马兹鲁夫在2011年的一篇论文中发现并详细描述了这一点。
Good thing he did, too. A few years later, he found out that crows not only hold onto that grudge - they tell other crows about it, too.
他也做了件好事。几年后，他发现乌鸦不仅会记仇，还会告诉其他乌鸦。
Within the first two weeks after trapping, around 26 percent of crows scolded the human wearing the danger mask. Around 15 months later, that figure was 30.4 percent.
在被困的头两周内，大约26%的乌鸦会责骂戴着危险面具的人。大约15个月后，这个数字是30.4%。
Three years after the initial trapping event, with no action towards the crows since, the number of scolding crows had grown to 66 percent.
在最初的诱捕事件发生三年后，没有对乌鸦采取任何行动，责骂乌鸦的数量已经增长到66%。
4. Crows hold funerals for their dead
4。乌鸦为死者举行葬礼
When a crow dies, other crows are often observed gathering around and making a lot of loud noise - much like humans, really. The reason for this was unknown until 2015, when crow researcher Kaeli Swift crowdfunded research to try and figure out why.
当一只乌鸦死后，人们经常会看到其他的乌鸦聚集在一起，发出很大的噪音——真的很像人类。原因一直不清楚，直到2015年，乌鸦研究者KaeliSwift众筹研究，试图找出原因。
Her conclusion, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, was that crows gather around their dead fellows to learn about danger.
她的结论发表在《动物行为》杂志上，是乌鸦聚集在死去的同伴周围，是为了了解危险。
And it works. The city of Chatham, Ontario is beneath a crow migration route, and they plague the town on their way through. Every attempt to get rid of them has failed - including shooting at them with pellet guns. The crows learnt how to fly just high enough to evade the fire.
而且它是有效的。安大略省查塔姆市位于乌鸦迁徙路线的下方，在迁徙途中，乌鸦会在该镇肆虐。每一次试图摆脱他们的尝试都失败了——包括用霰弹枪向他们射击。乌鸦学会了如何飞得足够高来躲避火灾。
5. Ravens are smart enough to be paranoid
5。乌鸦聪明到可以设想。
A study released in early 2016 found that ravens possess something known as the Theory of Mind - that is, the ability to recognise mental states within themselves, and extrapolate that others have mental states, too, and that those mental states in others may differ from their own.
2016年初发布的一项研究发现，乌鸦拥有一种被称为心理理论的东西——也就是说，它们能够识别自己内心的心理状态，并推断其他人也有心理状态，而其他人的心理状态可能与自己的不同。
Ravens like to stash food for later, and had been observed doing so more cautiously when other ravens were around.
乌鸦喜欢把食物藏起来以备日后食用，当其他乌鸦出现时，人们观察到它们会更为谨慎。
To test this idea, ravens were trained to use a peephole to watch a human hiding food in an adjoining room. Then they were put in the second room with the food, and observed in two conditions: with the peephole closed, and with the peephole open and a loudspeaker playing raven cries.
为了验证这个想法，乌鸦被训练使用一个窥视孔来观察一个藏在隔壁房间里的食物。然后把他们和食物放在第二个房间里，在两种情况下观察他们:窥视孔是关闭的，窥视孔是打开的，扬声器播放着乌鸦的叫声。
They behaved just as if another raven was in line-of-sight.
他们的行为就像另一只乌鸦在视线中。
This indicated, the researchers wrote in their paper, "that they can generalise from their own experience using the peephole as a pilferer and predict that audible competitors could potentially see their caches. Consequently, we argue that they represent 'seeing' in a way that cannot be reduced to the tracking of gaze cues."
这表明，研究人员在他们的论文中写道，“他们可以从自己的经验中总结出，把窥视孔当作小偷，并预测，听觉竞争对手可能会看到他们的缓存。”因此，我们认为，它们以一种不能被简化为追踪凝视线索的方式来代表‘看见’。”
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