| Question | Answer | Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | A | Section A mentions that corvids exhibit 'behaviors such as planning for the future and even recognizing themselves in mirrors, a trait linked to self-awareness,' which was once thought to be exclusive to humans and primates. | | 2 | B | Section B explicitly states that ravens and crows 'gather around garbage dumps and parking lots and supplement their diets with food that requires no hunting or exposure to dangerous predators'. | | 3 | F | Section F describes the experiment where Betty the crow was given only a straight piece of wire and 'wedged the tip of the wire into a crack in a plastic dish and pulled the other end to fashion her own hook' to retrieve food. | | 4 | G | Section G is entirely about how rooks at Puy du Fou park were trained 'to pick up litter after people' to keep the park clean. | | 5 | D | Section D mentions that 'in Inuit and Eskimo legends, Raven is the creator of the world' and that in Norse mythology, ravens sit on the shoulders of Odin, portraying corvids as divine or god-like figures. |
: Look for specific species names like "New Caledonian crow," "jackdaw," or "rook" to find information about specific behaviors quickly. Understand Comparisons
— Wild crows use tools to retrieve these from deep tree holes.
Don't read word-for-word initially. Locate key nouns (like "New Caledonian crows") and read the surrounding sentences for the answer. | Question | Answer | Explanation | |
The Intelligence of Corvids: IELTS Reading Insight Corvids—the avian family including crows, ravens, rooks, and jays—have long been a staple of IELTS academic reading passages. Often referred to as "feathered apes," these birds challenge our traditional understanding of vertebrate intelligence. This article explores the key themes often found in high-level IELTS reading materials regarding corvid cognition. The Tool-Making Revolution
Magpies reacted aggressively to their own reflections during the mirror test. Extra Quality Answer Key & Explanations
Corvids have been found to possess excellent memory and problem-solving abilities. For example, in the study mentioned in the passage, a group of crows were able to figure out how to open a puzzle box and obtain food, and they were even able to remember how to open the box after it had been modified to make it more difficult to access. This shows that corvids are able to learn and adapt quickly, and are able to solve complex problems. | | 4 | G | Section G
In addition to tool use, corvids have also been observed exhibiting complex social behaviors. For example, some species of corvids have been known to engage in playful activities, such as sliding down snowy hills or playing with sticks. They have also been observed showing empathy and altruism towards each other, such as comforting a distressed group member or sharing food with a hungry neighbor.
The "Intelligence of Corvids" is a frequent and challenging topic in the IELTS Reading test. This passage evaluates your ability to understand complex scientific arguments, identify text structure, and match specific information regarding animal behavior.
A remarkable colony of inventors has emerged on an isolated Pacific island (New Caledonia). They can fashion tools out of materials scavenged from the rainforest and customize a tool for a given job. Crows are particularly crafty, with technological features that match the stone tool cultures that emerged among primitive humans. Understand Comparisons — Wild crows use tools to
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, , below. Write the correct letter, A-F , in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
For centuries, humans considered themselves the sole possessors of higher cognitive abilities such as abstract reasoning, tool fabrication, and future planning. Animals were viewed as creatures of pure instinct, operating on hardwired behavioral loops. However, over the past few decades, a growing body of avian research has systematically dismantled this anthropocentric view. At the forefront of this behavioral revolution are corvids—a family of birds that includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, and jays. Far from being "birdbrains," these creatures exhibit cognitive sophistication that matches, and in some instances surpasses, that of non-human primates. Paragraph B
Christopher Bird of the University of Cambridge stated: "Corvids are remarkably intelligent, and in many ways rival the great apes in their physical intelligence and ability to solve problems." In the experiment, rooks dropped stones into tubes to raise water levels and reach a worm. The birds proved very adept and were highly accurate, adding the exact number of stones needed.
Scientists have identified a specific brain region in corvids called the . This region is believed to function similarly to the human prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving, planning, and executive functions.
The ability to identify the relationship between cause and effect.