Crowsight – The poetry of science

A notch
In the Sky Network –
Six forms pause
While one turns
far.
It does not take
A name
To know what fits,
What leans too far
of bone writing
of edge
and mirror mark.
Wing-watcher,
Line:
See
What we forget
Before we learn
To measure.
There is no trick
To the vision –
Only the long thread
of pattern
stronger wound
than thought.

This poem is inspired by Recent researchwhich has found that carrion crows can spontaneously detect geometric regularity, such as straight angles and symmetry, as well as humans.

Many people intuitively recognize when a form looks “regular”: when it has characteristics such as straight angles, straight edges or symmetry. This basic sense of geometric order, which forms the foundations of Euclidean geometry, is often considered to be exceptionally human. It helps us navigate, build and make sense of the world. But where does this understanding come from? Is it something that we learn through education, or could it be a deeper and more shared skill that extends beyond our species?

This research explored if animals share this basic geometric intuition when studying carrion crows. The crows were shown sets of forms and quickly learned to choose the one that looked different, what the researchers called the “intruder.” When these intruder forms were subtle variations in the regular geometric shapes, the crows still succeeded, and, surprisingly, they had even better performance when the forms followed recognizable patterns such as symmetry or straight angles. They did not need training to detect these differences. This suggests that an appreciation for geometric regularity may not be unique human, but an evolved capacity shared with other species. Understanding this opens new doors to explore how different animals perceive the world and challenge the idea that mathematics is purely a human construction.