Science in the Glorious Quran: The Intelligence of the Crow

” فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ ” (المائدة:31).

“Then God sent a crow searching in the ground to show him how to hide the disgrace of his brother” (Qur’an, 5:31).

Crows and ravens are highly intelligent birds. Recent studies suggest that the cognitive abilities of crows match those of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas.  Crows can learn, gain experience, and they can manufacture and use tools.

Crows have a family life and a sophisticated social behavior. They have been found to entertain themselves in social activities like sports.

Crows have the habit of hiding and storing food across seasons. They may dig the earth searching for nuts, earthworms, seeds, etc. It is that digging behavior of such a remarkable creative animal that inspired the son of Adam to bury his brother after killing him.

Crows are highly social birds. A crow digging the Earth to extract Earthworms and seeds (right)

A crow using a twig as a tool to dig into a trunk for grubs (left). A thirsty crow dropping stones to raise the water level to drink (right).