PH
To many of us, crows might be ugly or annoying, but they're actually pretty darn smart. Crows, which belong to the same genus - Corvus - as their highly intelligent cousins, ravens - have been observed demonstrating some impressive feats that most other birds can't do, such as fashioning hooks and other tools to eat with. In fact, crows share some of the same problem-solving and adaptability traits as primates.
While many of their cognitive abilities and problem-solving skills arose out of evolutionary demand, crows have also proven their smarts when it seems to have no evolutionary benefit. For example, a crow dubbed 007 was captured on TV solving a man-made puzzle in eight intentional steps. Besides being impressive and entertaining, this also showed that crows have the ability to plan and think ahead.
Other studies have shown crows not only remember humans who were kind or unkind to them, but they share this info with their flock (or rather, their murder).
Crows also know their cunning prowess, and often use it not just for survival, but also simply to entertain themselves. So the next time you hear the "caw" of a crow and feel like it's laughing at you, know that it probably is.
(c) Ranker