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Many people are quick to assume that planning for tomorrow is a hallmark unique to our species; that only human beings are capable of weighing future outcomes, delaying gratification and acting with abstract foresight. This is because many presume the cognitive abilities underlying these behaviors are tightly bound to the evolution of human and great ape brains. However, in recent years, a surprising bird has proven this to be false: the raven.
Biological research is now showing that these jet‑black corvids, often the subject of myth and folklore, possess a capacity to plan for future events that rivals (and sometimes even outpaces) that of humans and other primates. Here’s how this discovery is forcing us to rethink what intelligence looks like for birds, as well as what it means to “think ahead.”
How Scientists Discovered That Birds Can Plan For The Future
The discovery came from a 2017 study published in the journal Science, conducted by researchers from Lund University in Sweden. In a series of controlled trials, the authors of the study tested whether ravens (Corvus corax) could anticipate events that were both out of sight and separated by hours in time.
This design made it possible to assess levels of future planning that were once believed to be confined to humans and great apes. The procedure went as follows:
- Ravens were trained to learn how to use a stone tool for unlocking a puzzle, which dispensed a favored food reward
- The box was removed
- After some time — anywhere from 15 minutes to 17 hours later — the birds were given a choice among objects, only one of which was the correct tool
Astonishingly, upon returning the box to the ravens, the researchers observed that nearly all of them selected the correct implement and used it successfully to obtain their treat. This required them to bear a future use for a tool in mind long after the reward was out of immediate reach.
This isn’t to be confused with random caching or instinctive hoarding, like that seen in squirrels. The behavior necessitates their anticipation of a highly specific future goal that’s separate from the immediate present.
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After the tool condition, they also tested whether ravens could plan socially. Specifically, they assessed whether they had the foresight to save their rewards to trade them later on for a reward of even higher value.
The researchers found that, much like we would set aside money for a possible future benefit, some ravens opted to hold onto their token, rather than consume a lesser treat offered immediately. They even delayed their gratification — choosing future advantage over instant reward — at rates comparable to those of great apes.
The ravens demonstrated such impressive flexibility in choosing tokens over immediate food that, under certain conditions, they outperformed orangutans, bonobos and chimpanzees on the bartering tasks.
Do These Birds Actually Have Future Insight?
To us, planning is a deceptively simple concept to describe. But in terms of cognition, it’s actually remarkably difficult to define. We would typically discuss it in the context of setting goals, delaying gratification or constructing abstract mental representations of the future.
Research on primates has laid the foundation for these different concepts. As a result, “planning” or “foresight” has since been considered a trait unique to primate and human evolution. But corvids like ravens, crows and jays have been challenging this notion for quite some time.
For instance, earlier research, such as a 2007 study on western scrub‑jays published in Nature, has shown that some birds are capable of choosing both where and when to cache food. This is also indicative of future anticipation. The Lund experiment expanded this line of enquiry by showing that ravens can apply foresight in domains where they have no natural advantage (tools and bartering), which is a signature of domain‑general planning.
One of the most fascinating scientific conversations spurred by this research surrounds how different brains can converge on similar cognitive solutions. That is, despite the fact that humans and ravens don’t share the same neural architecture, they still show human‑like planning in these experiments.
The idea that foresight is possible in the absence of a layered neocortex is truly intriguing, as it suggests that complex decision‑making isn’t strictly tied to one kind of brain or evolutionary path. Evidently, planning can arise from different neural systems, so long as they face similar ecological and social challenges.
On the other hand, some researchers even argue that what may look like planning to us could actually be explained by associative learning mechanisms — that is, animals learn to link behaviors with future outcomes through experience rather than explicit “mental simulation.” But even in this debate, ravens remain central; they provide a critical test case for theories about the mechanisms underlying complex behavior.
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What These Birds Teach Us About Future Planning
If ravens can exhibit planning behaviors in lab settings, what does that mean for understanding human cognition?
For one, it forces us to reconsider where the boundary truly lies between human and non‑human intelligence. Temporal flexibility — the ability to act based on potential future scenarios — is a key ingredient in our everyday lives, from saving for retirement to anticipating social outcomes.
Although the mechanisms themselves may differ between bird brains and mammalian cortices, the behavioral outcome converges in surprising ways. Future research will push this frontier further by exploring:
- How wild ravens use planning in natural contexts
- What neural circuits support these behaviors
- Whether other non‑primate animals share similar capacities
Ultimately, perhaps the most important lesson we can take from this field of research isn’t that ravens are “like us,” but rather that the capacity to imagine tomorrow may be an integral part of intelligence itself.
When a bird challenges what we thought only humans could do, it invites reflection. Take this science-backed test to explore how you relate to the living world: Connectedness to Nature Scale
NOTE – This article was originally published in Forbes and can be viewed here
