Development of cognition in corvids

Corvids - members of the crow family - exhibit some of the most sophisticated cognitive abilities outside the primate lineage, yet the developmental origins of many of these abilities remain poorly understood. Here, we present a systematic review of the past 20 years (2005-2025) of empirical research on corvid cognitive development, synthesising evidence across core/ foundational, social and physical cognitive domains. Using a structured search strategy and detailed coding framework, we evaluate and discuss developmental trajectories, species/ taxa-level variation and methodological robustness across studies. Across domains, corvid developmental patterns show both parallels and divergences from those documented in non-human primates, children and other taxa, yet the existing corvid evidence base is constrained by small samples, captive biases, limited longitudinal data and under-representation of key cognitive abilities, such as executive function, causal reasoning, self-control, metacognition, spatial memory and social learning. We outline critical gaps and future directions, emphasising the need for comparative, longitudinal and ecologically grounded approaches to better understand how early-life cognition shapes later behaviour, cognition and fitness in this model avian family.