Ravens Can Figure Out When Someone Is Spying on Them

Corvids, the family of birds that includes crows and ravens, are canny beasts. They've been known to exercise self-control, count, hold grudges, and more. Now, new research suggests they possess at least a rudimentary Theory of Mind—the ability to attribute mental states to others.

A study in Nature finds that ravens can tell when someone else can see them, guarding their food when a peephole to their cache is open. While previous research suggested that birds might have an awareness of other animals' mental states, the results have been inconclusive. The Nature study is evidence that corvids can do more than just track other birds' gaze; they may understand the concept of "seeing."

Vienna-based researchers set up two rooms separated by windows that could be closed with covers. These covers had peepholes in them that could also be opened or closed. First, the 10 ravens were each allowed to cache food, while other birds were in the next room and the windows were open or closed. Then, they were trained to look through the peepholes to find food in the other room, so that they knew that the holes could be used to see through the window covers. Afterwards, each of the ravens was again presented with food with one of the two peepholes open. The adjacent observation room didn't have any birds in it, but the researchers played the sounds of another raven recorded during one of the previous trials.

When the birds heard the sounds of another raven in the next room, and the peephole was open, the birds behaved as if they knew they were being watched—they hid their cache of food quickly and didn't add more food to it as often, as if they knew that it might be compromised. However, they behaved normally when the peephole was closed.

This suggests that ravens don't just track their competitors' gaze to know when they’re being watched, but can infer from past experience when they can be seen.