27/03/2014

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:00:00. > :00:09.Ayshah here with your evening update. First, do you think you

:00:10. > :00:13.could outsmart this bird? Easy, right? Well, new research suggests

:00:14. > :00:17.you might find it harder than you think. Because scientists have shown

:00:18. > :00:19.crows are pretty good at puzzles. Have a look at this.

:00:20. > :00:23.They're known for being pretty savvy, but now scientists reckon

:00:24. > :00:35.that crows can be as good at solving puzzles as seven-year-old kids. They

:00:36. > :00:41.are very good at two youths, but all the members of the family can do a

:00:42. > :00:45.lot of amazing things. In a series of tests, the crows had to work out

:00:46. > :00:49.what to do to get treats. One of the tests where the crows did well was

:00:50. > :00:53.this one. They were given a range of tubes with different amounts of

:00:54. > :00:57.water in and a pile of rocks next to it. As you can see, pretty soon,

:00:58. > :01:00.they got the hang of it. So, how does it work? It's all to do

:01:01. > :01:04.with a scientific principle called displacement. If you drop a rock in

:01:05. > :01:08.the water, it sinks to the bottom, pushing some of the liquid out of

:01:09. > :01:12.the way and raising the level of the water. The birds not only used this

:01:13. > :01:16.tactic to get at food floating on the water, they also worked out

:01:17. > :01:19.which items would float or not and knew which tube had the most water

:01:20. > :01:23.in it. We did almost exactly the same study with children between the

:01:24. > :01:27.ages of four and ten and what we found is whilst children of their

:01:28. > :01:33.eight were much better than the boots, children aged between five

:01:34. > :01:39.and seven performed about the same level. They were just as good in one

:01:40. > :01:44.experiment, the children were fine and did that just as well, but the

:01:45. > :01:49.bits could not do it at all. This tells us that even though sometimes

:01:50. > :01:52.children and animals might be able to perform as well as each other,

:01:53. > :01:55.they might learn in different ways. Although they weren't as good in

:01:56. > :01:58.some of the more complicated tasks. Crows seem to me to be the birds in

:01:59. > :02:01.the know. And some good news for England's

:02:02. > :02:05.cricket fans. The team have pulled off a remarkable six wicket win over

:02:06. > :02:09.Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20. Alex Hales was the hero, producing

:02:10. > :02:12.one of the best innings ever seen in the competition. 116 not out from 64

:02:13. > :02:15.balls. Great stuff! But England will still need to win their next two

:02:16. > :02:19.games to go through. If your pooch has a paunch, listen

:02:20. > :02:23.up because it's time for the Pet Fit Club competition. The annual contest

:02:24. > :02:26.aims to find the best pet slimmers and entry opens today. Animal

:02:27. > :02:29.charity the PDSA says millions of pets across the UK are far too fat

:02:30. > :02:34.because their owners feed them leftovers like takeaways, biscuits

:02:35. > :02:37.and chips. It makes dogs, cats and even rabbits dangerously overweight,

:02:38. > :02:41.which can lead to major health problems and severely shorten their

:02:42. > :02:45.lives. Get online to our new-look website

:02:46. > :02:48.for a gallery of the podgiest pets taking part. Find out which are the

:02:49. > :02:52.commonest British birds, according to the RSPB's annual survey, and you

:02:53. > :02:56.can test your knowledge of our feathered friends in our quiz, too!

:02:57. > :02:58.That's all from me, Newsround's back in the morning with an interview

:02:59. > :03:00.with Frank Lampard!