Corvids including crows, ravens, and jays demonstrate cognitive abilities that rival those of great apes, raising important questions about their welfare needs.
Corvid intelligence has significant welfare implications. Animals capable of future planning, episodic memory, and tool use experience boredom, frustration, and loss in qualitatively richer ways than less cognitively complex animals. Corvids in captivity without adequate stimulation develop stereotypic behaviors rapidly. Injured corvids in rehabilitation require particularly enriched environments. Urban corvids that engage in problem-solving around human environments may develop behavioral flexibility that reduces some welfare concerns but creates human-conflict situations leading to persecution.