Crowsight – The Poetry of Science

A notch
in the sky’s lattice –
six shapes pause
while one turns
away.
It does not take
a name
to know what fits,
what leans too far
from the bone-script
of edge-meet
and mirror-mark.
Wing-watcher,
line-knower –
it sees
what we forgot
before we learned
to measure.
There is no trick
to the seeing –
just the long thread
of pattern
wound tighter
than thought.

This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that carrion crows can spontaneously detect geometric regularity – like right angles and symmetry – just like humans.

Many people intuitively recognise when a shape looks ‘regular’ – when it has features like right angles, straight edges, or symmetry. This basic sense of geometric order, which forms the foundations of Euclidean geometry, is often thought of as uniquely human. It helps us navigate, build, and make sense of the world. But where does this understanding come from? Is it something we learn through schooling, or could it be a deeper, shared ability that extends beyond our species?

This research explored whether animals share this basic geometric intuition by studying carrion crows. The crows were shown sets of shapes and quickly learned to pick out the one that looked different – what researchers called the ‘intruder.’ When these intruder shapes were subtle variations on regular geometric forms, the crows still succeeded – and, strikingly, they performed even better when the shapes followed recognisable patterns like symmetry or right angles. They did not need training to spot these differences. This suggests that an appreciation for geometric regularity might not be uniquely human, but instead an evolved ability shared with other species. Understanding this opens new doors for exploring how different animals perceive the world and challenges the idea that mathematics is purely a human construct.