Clever Crows

The term 'bird brain' might suggest our feathered friends are stupid, but Hannah and Dara learn it's completely untrue. They play hide and seek with a raven called Bran, and hear how his behaviour changes depending on his mood. Corvid expert Nicola Clayton explains these creatures are actually cleverer than the average 8-year-old, and can learn how to choose specific tools for different scenarios. And neurobiologist Andreas Nieder tells them that while crows evolved totally different brains from humans - 300,000 years apart - they might just be capable of the same type of intelligence. Contributors: Bran the raven Lloyd Buck, bird handler Professor Nicky Clayton, University of Cambridge Professor Andreas Nieder, University of Tubingen Producer: Marijke Peters Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Audio Production

You can listen to Clever Crows online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Clever Crows is an episode from The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry by BBC.

This episode is 28:30 long.

This episode was published on Jul 4, 2025.

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