L eo is playing a game. There are cups and balls on the street. The Comparative Cognition Laboratory in Madingley, Cambridge, is where the ball is located. The man is perched on a wooden platform ready to place his wager. A piece of food is laid under a cup. A man takes a stab. It was a success. The waxworm was in his beak when he snatched it. A fellow resident who has been at the aviary almost as long as the lab itself, looks on knowingly.
ProfessorNicolaClayton is a psychologist who founded the lab 22 years ago and we are joined by a PhD researcher. She studies the cognitive abilities of both animals and humans, but is particularly known for her research into the intelligence of corvids, which include the rook. A cluster of four large aviaries tucked behind a thatched pub has paved the way for new theories about the evolution and development of intelligence in corvids. The lab has a curious synthesis of ideas drawn from both science and the arts thanks to the eclectic tastes ofClayton.
The birds at the lab are like family toClayton, who has hand-reared many of the birds. She greeted her test subjects with affection when she introduced them to Hoy and Romero. She said hello in a song. I adore you. Hoy responds by kissing. Many corvids are capable of mimicking human speech. One of the best memories of the lab was when a young person said they loved you. The Comparative Cognition Lab is more than just a place of scientific research according toClayton. The palace is called acorvid palace. It has been presided over byClayton for more than twenty years.
All is not well in her kingdom She found out last year that the lab's grant wouldn't be renewed. As a result of the UK's departure from the EU, she is one of a growing number of academics facing funding difficulties. Finding alternative financing has been made more difficult by the Pandemic. At the end of July, the university will stop giving money to the lab. The lab is on borrowed time because of a lack of funding. The palace is in danger of closing. Her birds were released or re- homed. Soon, a lab that has changed our understanding of animal cognitive abilities may no longer exist. It is difficult to show people the birds at the moment because she is emotionally attached to them.
Humans have always been suspicious of corvids. "You wonder what's behind that beady eye, don't you?" Birds are shrouded in mystery. Folklore often depicts corvids as tricksters or thieves. The Tower of London is protected by the ravens. Few images are as ominous as the crows gathering on a climbing frame in Alfred Hitchhiker's The Birds. The semiotics of corvids are based on the fact that they are smart. Some of their mental capacities have been tested here.
The ability to remember the past or plan for the future is a big concern for her. She says that people assumed this was something that only humans have. The animals didn't have Experiential memories that required us to project ourselves in time. There was evidence that scrub jays remembered where and when they hid food. She observed that jays were able to think about the future. A study conducted with Dr Nathan Emery found that a jay with prior experience as a thief was more cautious when hiding its food. Birds that had not taken food for themselves were ignorant. jays can relate to a previous experience and make decisions based on the possibility of future events In 2001, the results of the study were published. It was said to be a "game-changer".
Chris Bird, a PhD student in the lab, drew on the rich cultural heritage of corvids for inspiration. The Crow and the Pitcher was the beginning of the story. The study found that rooks were capable of manipulating water by dropping rocks in it until they had enough to eat. rooks can use their creativity to make task-specific tools, such as bending wire into a hook to lever a small bucket out of a tube. The man says he had a lot of respect for birds. I was shocked by how smart they were.
These studies show that animals which followed a different evolutionary path to humans were capable of intelligent thought. Many academics in the field have been influenced by her research into corvids being as intelligent as Chimpanzees. Intelligence has nothing to do with how brains are wired, or how large they are, according to a senior editor at Nature. She has shown that corvids are capable of thinking in a certain way. They can think of themselves as agents. Human beings can't do things like plot, plan, scheme and even lie until they are three years old. corvids think the same way as we do.
The scientific community has been sad and dismayed by the news of the lab's impending closing. A group of 358 academics from around the world wrote an open letter to the university. Alex Thornton, a professor of cognitive evolution, said it would be an act of self-sabotage. It was shown to have a lack of intelligence. I was told by Emery that it would be hard to create something similar somewhere else. He said that these birds cannot be bought off the shelf. If the corvid lab closes, it wouldn't be able to start up again. The letter states that the lab at Madingley is the only one of its kind in the UK.
Jonathan Birch is an associate professor at the London School of Economics. He told me that he sees some big cultural problems in science with a focus on the short-term. Funding for long term studies is being squeezed around the world. A different way of doing animal research is shown by the lab of Clayton. We study them to see how they think and solve problems. It's hard to overstate the significance of the lab. The sciences of mind and brain would be badly affected by its closing.
Cambridge University said that continued investment was not sustainable at a time of rapidly rising costs and that funds could be allocated to support the research of early- and mid-career academics. It said it would be happy to work with an external funder to keep the aviaries open. It's hard to say how much it would cost to keep the lab open for more than a few years. There have been some partial offers from potential donors.
Changing how we think about animals is dependent upon the work ofClayton. The studies conducted at her lab are part of a renaissance in our understanding of the cognitive abilities of other creatures. It takes a long time to learn from animals. It takes a long time to prepare these sorts of experiments. It wouldn't be scientifically valid to teach old crows new tricks. The corvids can't be caught because researchers don't know the bird's history. The birds need to be raised in controlled conditions. It can take a long time to build up the trust needed for an experiment. It is a privilege for them to see inside their minds and for us to share what they know with them.
Cornero told me that it took a year before she could work with Hoy. She has given him a number of commands. He arrives when she says come. He mumbles something when she says "speak" If a rook can be trained like a dog, then is domestication really a precondition to "intelligent" behaviors? Cornero thinks it's important for humans to be aware that they aren't the only ones in this space.
It is possible for anyone to bring these ideas into the public consciousness. She has always had a knack for creating work that is exciting and stimulating. It's for inspiring new thinking. She is the first scientist in residence at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and has a long term collaboration with the artist Clive Wilkins.
Recently magic has opened up a new line of inquiry for the lab. The study used magicians to test the perceptual abilities of jays. You don't have to be an expert in animal psychology to enjoy these experiments.
This research leaves you with more questions than answers, which is similar to a magic trick. The younger birds are being prepared for release. The rooks may continue their lives at a similar research lab in Strasbourg because they have all been found suitable homes. There is still hope that the lab will find a way to keep working. She wanted to dance and watch the birds since she could walk. It is difficult to let go of the things she has built. When Hoy chirps, "What's that noise?", and a corvid mimics a human phrase, I ask her what it really means. "That's their way of connecting, isn't it?"
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