Yeah corvids have been proven to have some level of culture as well as dialects across flocks, and it's well-established they pass knowledge about oddly specific things across generations. Scientists obv can't (yet) translate crowspeak, but computer analyzing subtle differences in pitch, spacing, rhythm, cadence, tongue clicks, etc. proves their chatter has complex structures, patterns, and rules to it

Crows have even recently been proven to be capable of recursion (structurally nesting abstract concepts inside other abstract concepts), which linguists previously assumed was strictly unique to humans, and recent research has shown crows "know what they know" and ponder the contents of their own minds

I think the grey area for many species of birds and sea mammals is not if they have complex communication systems, but how complex some of them truly are. Humanity's spent ages arrogantly assuming every chirp and whistle and click on the planet is just meaningless, primitive noise, and modern science is only just starting to catch up

[–] mar_k@hexbear.net 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Similarly, European colonizers assumed societies with huts and simpler technology were less intelligent. Meanwhile countless indigenous societies like that turned out to have languages far more complicated and sophisticated than European languages, cultures and traditions more vast and diverse, and their values generally far more altruistic and socially connective. (And they focused on community and connection over material advancement, were limited by environmental or chance factors, and/or philosophically/ spiritually opposed to artificial means of living that disconnected themselves from nature)