Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 May 2;28(1):35.
doi: 10.1007/s10071-025-01949-y.

Dimensions of corvid consciousness

Walter Veit  1 , Heather Browning  2 , Elias Garcia-Pelegrin  3 , James R Davies  4   5 , Jamie G DuBois  4 , Nicola S Clayton  4
Affiliations
Review

Dimensions of corvid consciousness

Walter Veit et al. Anim Cogn. .

Abstract

Corvids have long been a target of public fascination and of scientific attention, particularly in the study of animal minds. Using Birch et al.'s (2020) 5-dimensional framework for animal consciousness we ask what it is like to be a corvid and propose a speculative but empirically informed answer. We go on to suggest future directions for research on corvid consciousness and how it can inform ethical treatment and animal welfare legislation.

Keywords: Animal cognition; Animal consciousness; Bird consciousness; Corvids; Dimensions of consciousness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical statements: It is not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable.

References

    1. Adriaense JE, Martin JS, Schiestl M, Lamm C, Bugnyar T (2019) Negative emotional contagion and cognitive bias in common ravens (Corvus corax). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 116:11547–11552 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allen C, Trestman M (2017) Animal consciousness. In: Zalta EN (ed) The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2017 ed). Stanford University, Metaphysics Research Lab
    1. Andrews K, Birch J, Sebo J, Sims T (2024) Background to the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness. nydeclaration.com
    1. Baars BJ (2002) The conscious access hypothesis: origins and recent evidence. Trends Cogn Sci 6:47–52 - PubMed
    1. Baciadonna L, Cornero F, Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2020) Convergent evolution of complex cognition: insights from the field of avian cognition into the study of self-awareness. Learn Behav 49:9–22 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources