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# Ravens attribute visual access to unseen competitors

## Details

**Authors** Bugnyar

**Year** 2016

**Publisher** Nature Communications

**Discipline** Biology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10506) 
10.1038/ncomms10506

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Recent studies purported to demonstrate that chimpanzees, monkeys and corvids possess a basic Theory of Mind, the ability to attribute mental states like seeing to others. However, these studies remain controversial because they share a common confound: the conspecific’s line of gaze, which could serve as an associative cue. Here, we show that ravens Corvus corax take into account the visual access of others, even when they cannot see a conspecific. Specifically, we find that ravens guard their caches against discovery in response to the sounds of conspecifics when a peephole is open but not when it is closed. Our results suggest that ravens can generalize from their own perceptual experience to infer the possibility of being seen. These findings confirm and unite previous work, providing strong evidence that ravens are more than mere behaviour-readers.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To determine if ravens could take spatial perspectives.

### What they found (results)

Their results showed that the ravens had similar caching behavior in both the observed and peephole conditions, indicating that they are aware that there is a possibility for their food store to be seen through the hole. They also used the perceived limited visual range of the peephole to move their cache out of sight. Their results suggest “that ravens can generalize from their own perceptual experience to infer the possibility of being seen.”

## Commentary

### In short

Ravens (Corvus corax) also have the ability to take perspectives.

### In more detail

The Theory of Mind idea is a common way to test if an organism is taking perspectives other than its own, and to what degree it is able to do so. Chimpanzees and some other primates have been shown to be able to perform in Theory of Mind tasks. This research by Thomas Bugnyar et al. 2016 demonstrated that ravens (Corvus corax) also have the ability to take perspectives. A concern with the experimentation of non-human organisms in Theory of Mind tasks is that the test subjects could be possibly using the eyeline of the human experimenter to gauge what is needed to be done to complete the task. This experiment was performed without the experimenter in the room, so that concern is mitigated. Their experiment entailed three conditions to measure the test raven’s caching behavior: observed, non-observed, and peephole. In the observed condition, the window between both ravens is open, and both are vocalizing. In the non-observed condition, the window is covered so neither bird can see the other, and both are vocalizing. Finally, in the peephole condition, one of two peepholes in the window is opened. Their results showed that the ravens had similar caching behavior in both the observed and peephole conditions, indicating that they are aware that there is a possibility for their food store to be seen through the hole. They also used the perceived limited visual range of the peephole to move their cache out of sight. Their results suggest “that ravens can generalize from their own perceptual experience to infer the possibility of being seen.” Incredibly, as more and more research is done, we find that perspective-taking is not unique to humans, and is in fact universally performed by all kinds of organisms.

**Patterns it shows** P

**How to cite this** Bugnyar (2016). Ravens attribute visual access to unseen competitors. Nature Communications.