Social cognition in ravens

Abstract

Complex social life has been proposed as one of the main driving forces for the evolution of higher cognitive abilities in humans and non-human animals. Until recently, this theory has been tested mainly on mammals/primates, whereas little attention has been paid to birds. Indeed, birds provide a challenge to the theory, on one hand because they show high flexibility in group formation and composition, on the other hand because monogamous breeding pairs are the main unit of social structure in many species. Here I illustrate that non-breeding ravens Corvus corax engage in sophisticated social interactions during foraging and conflict management. While Machiavellian-type skills are found in competition for hidden food, the formation and use of valuable relationships (social bonds) seem to be key in dealing with others in daily life. I thus argue that ravens represent a promising case for testing the idea that sophisticated social cognition may evolve in systems with a given degree of social complexity, independently of phylogeny.