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Can Birds Recognize Faces?

Crows remembered the face of a person they considered a threat—even across generations.

12/20/2017

NOVA

Can Birds Recognize Faces?

Clip: Season 44 Episode 20 | 1m 57sVideo has Closed Captions

Crows remembered the face of a person they considered a threat—even across generations.

Researchers caught, tagged, and released crows to see if they can recognize the face of a person who’s a threat. They discovered the crows were warning each other that the person in the mask was dangerous — even generations after it the initial capture.

12/20/2017

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Bird Brain Preview

Video has Closed Captions

Preview: S44 Ep20 | 30s | Watch as birds solve puzzles and challenge our basic notions of intelligence. (30s)

Do Birds Remember Faces?

Clip: S44 Ep20 | 1m 49s | Crows can remember the face of their captors—even after generations. (1m 49s)

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National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.

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