In a new study, crows beat the numeracy skills of children by learning to count

Researchers in Germany train crows to emit one to four caws in response to seeing the numbers 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 .

They matched or beat the numeracy skills of human children who often don’t master rudimentary counting until kindergarten.

Similar skills have been observed in studies of gorillas, dolphins, elephants, the rhesus macaque, and the squirrel and capuchin monkeys.

In the Falkland Islands species known as Striated Caracaras routinely engaging in play with sheets of plastic, sea cabbage, stones, and sheep dung.

In the case of the falcons, playing with objects might reveal an unexpected nutrient source.

In a species like the chicken, where only males compete for territories, it makes sense that they engage in more social play as young.

Some researchers have found parallels between ADHD in people and similar distractibility and impulsiveness in dogs.

The ability to use even simple tools was once thought to be limited to humans.

New research is now turning up insights into the talents of one of nature’s most prodigious tool-users.