Ravens can be smarter than parrots however, it does depend on what task they do. Ravens and other corvids are known for their ability to solve problems whilst parrots excel in communication. Ravens are also capable of mimicking speech so when you put both these skills together, you can definitely argue ravens are the more intelligent species. 

With that being said both are among the most intelligent species on the planet so it isn’t easy to distinguish between the nuances to definitively say a raven is smarter.

Why Are Ravens Smarter Than Parrots?

Raven’s fall under the corvid line of birds that include crows, jays, magpies whilst parrots include budgies, macaws, cockatoos etc.

Ravens only consist of singular bird type within the entire corvid specie so it doesn’t make much sense to compare the entire parrot line with ravens, especially considering smaller parrots probably won’t be as intelligent as the larger ones.

So it’s more sensible to compare ravens to the larger parrots like macaws or cockatoos.

Ravens are extremely as we’ve already established, after all they are consummate problem solvers however, this isn’t the only smart act they are capable of. Ravens have also been observed communicating with each other to a higher degree than apes and have even been seen tricking other animals to help them.

On the other hand parrots have their own form of intelligence where they are most known for their ability to mimic others. A parrots memory can be regarded as really strong area of theirs which parrots are known to remembers hundreds to thousands of words and accents of people that they’ve met.

Although ravens, dolphins among other mammals and birds can mimic human speech, baby cries or a song, parrots are able to do so in the most accurate way.

What Makes Ravens So Intelligent?

Ravens have an extremly large brain for their body size. If scaled up making the overall size comparable to what we would have if were to shrink to a ravens size its relatively comparable.

A ravens brain is equivalent in size to a walnut and roughly 15 grams in weight. Ravens can weight upto 2kg although on average they’d be 1 – 1.5kg.

Our brains are on average 1.2 – 1.3kg whilst we weigh anywhere around 60 – 90kg. This mean on average a ravens brain is roughly 1 – 1.5 percent its body weight whilst our brains are 2 – 2.5% our body weight.

Of course these jet black avians brains are still walnut sized but, around 1.5% they’re actual body size is huge in general.

This extreme size appears to contribute a lot of brain power for ravens where it’s been discovered that the neurons in their forebrains far exceed mammals whom have much larger brains. In turn this is the reason why a ravens cognitive ability is levels above most animals on Earth.

Are Raven’s Smarter Than Dolphin’s?

Dolphins are easily among the most intelligent mammals whilst ravens are often placed amongst the top too therefore, comparing the two does make sense.

Dolphins are generally regarded as the more intelligent specie but, ravens don’t fall too far behind. Most would place dolphins as the second most on the intelligence list just behind chimps as a dolphins memory isn’t quite as fast as first place.

However, they do have a better memory than elephants and to some degree the longest lasting memory in the animal kingdom. The Royal society for one has observed dolphins remembering the sound of another dolphin for over 20 years.

Ravens are equal in the ability to solve puzzles if not superior to dolphins as they are able to create tools in order to solve a problem whilst dolphins cannot. Though it has been observed that dolphins are more capable in discerning complex concepts that even people aren’t able to understand until we become 4 – 5 years old.

In a general sense dolphins are more intelligent as they can understands complex concepts, have an amazing memory, have better understanding of complex concepts and are capable communicators.

Ravens certainly aren’t much weaker on most of these subjects and even take the cake in using different tools and methods to solve puzzles but as a whole they can’t really compare to the smarts dolphins display.

Are Ravens Smarter Than Us?

We all know the answer here, it’s a definitive no.

Ravens are not smarter or more intelligent than we are. Humans can do everything raven can and more in regards to intellect. Humans are literally at the peak of the food hierarchy and the most dominant specie in this world.

With that being said Ravens are able to perform intelligence tests at the same level as apes and orangutans and we’ve discussed their brain size as being comparable (if scaled to be human size) to our own but, other than their ability to fly and maybe their ability to see UV light, there really isn’t anything they trump us on when it comes to intelligence.

Summary

Ravens are definitely smart, even amongst all the other birds within the corvid line however, parrots are no slouches either. The only definitive area where Ravens are undoubtedly smarter would be in the prospect of solving puzzles and building tools to solve any problem they couldn’t otherwise.

They’re able to mimic speech too although parrots can be argued as being superior here by a significant amount. Ravens can even trick other birds to do their bidding and can communicate with each other to the same level as apes.

In short they are very intelligent and could be argued as being more intelligent than parrots although the answer honestly isn’t very definitive as we’ve not done any tests to truly compare the two species as of yet.

References

https://www.northernparrots.com/mobile/why-are-parrots-so-clever-blog698/

https://www.pnas.org/content/113/26/7255

https://bestlifeonline.com/dolphin-intelligence/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.scientificamerican.com/article/young-ravens-rival-adult-chimps-in-a-big-test-of-general-intelligence/?amp=true