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When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)
- Speakeasys 10y agoThat mask is super creepy.
- nathancahill 10y agoThat picture is straight out of an indie horror movie.
- nl 10y agoThis whole article is pretty interesting, but the last paragraph is worth quoting: For instance, in 2008 Marzluff had researchers in caveman masks capture crows while others in a control mask—Dick Cheney—let the birds be. Afterward the birds ignored the harmless Cheneys but scolded and chased the cavemen, and did so for years. Poor birds! Probably thought they could trust a Crow-Magnon. Dick Cheney masks! Probably thought they could trust a Crow-Magnon. I have faith in the world again.
- kissickas 10y agoSeems like crows are prime for weaponization (maybe expressing my inner Dick Cheney here). Just don a mask and attack a few crows near your target, leaving some witnesses. Has it ever been done before? A quick Google search didn't uncover anything.
- joveian 10y agoSound like high risk for low reward, even if they don't figure out that the other people aren't involved which they might. At first I thought you ment like this: http://cyberneticzoo.com/bionics/1940-project-pigeon-1948-project-orcon-b-f-skinner-american/ http://cyberneticzoo.com/bionics/1940-project-pigeon-1948-pr...
- kissickas 10y agoHilarious! Reminded me of https://archive.google.com/pigeonrank/ https://archive.google.com/pigeonrank/
- adamnemecek 10y agoIf you find this interesting, you should really look into the intelligence of crows. They've been observed to remember human faces, wait on traffic lights, plan, and a whole bunch of things that are very impressive. And don't even get me started on _jackdaws_.
- rosege 10y agoTheres a youtube clip of a crow solving a puzzle that little children struggle with - cant find it now as at work but dont think it would be hard to find for anyone interested
- beefield 10y agoI guess you mean this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE
- abruzzi 10y agoThis is not nearly as complex a sequence, but has a bit of tool making. Specifically, bending a wire into a hook to retrieve food: https://youtu.be/TtmLVP0HvDg https://youtu.be/TtmLVP0HvDg
- leephillips 10y agoThat is fascinating. But notice that the researcher makes an elementary mistake: he failed to screen himself from the bird's sight.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- slavik81 10y agoCorvids (crows, ravens, magpies, jackdaws) are pretty bright. Some of them also have quite a bit of voice control. Like parrots, they can speak human words if trained. https://youtu.be/rIX_6TBeph0 https://youtu.be/rIX_6TBeph0
- rudedogg 10y agoMy dog has been on a killing spree this summer, sometimes catching 2 birds in a week :(. It's amazing how the birds react when she catches one. They all go nuts, and more fly in and start squawking. I worry they'll call in a hawk to carry her away lol.
- nathancahill 10y agoRelevant username.
- trhway 10y ago>My dog has been on a killing spree this summer, sometimes catching 2 birds in a week :(. usually dog tags on the collar is enough. Otherwise, have you ever thought about attaching a small bell to the collar so that it'd warn the birds before the dog catches them?
- rudedogg 10y agoNo, I didn't even think of that. I switched the sprinklers to run at midnight instead of 7-8PM a few days ago, and so far so good. If it happens again I'll give the collar w/ tags a try, thanks. Hopefully she's learning that she gets a bath and I get grumpy every time it happens too.
- omegaham 10y agoGrowing up, I had a cat who got attacked by a hawk. He came running in one day with deep talon scratches on his back. My mom took him to the vet, who cleaned up the wounds and said that it was probably a juvenile who was overconfident in what he could grab. An adult wouldn't have tried. The mental image of this teenager hawk swooping down, grabbing a fatass 15-pound cat, and struggling to pick it up while Mom looks down and shakes her head makes me smile.
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- sverige 10y agoMockingbirds also remember faces. They will attack if they think you are a predator. I had one who decided my daily walk was a threat - maybe I walked too close to its nest - and came straight at my face. Scary as hell. That bird then swooped to attack every time I went outdoors. To Kill a Mockingbird indeed.
- jboles 10y agoMagpies as well. They aim for the face/eyes. Usually if you come too close to their nest.
- emilong 10y agoTo be fair, I also have unfavorable reactions when faced with mask-wearing people holding dead crows. ;)
- slavik81 10y agoI seem to have found a video of a magpie funeral. They're also corvids, like crows and ravens. https://youtu.be/60Zg9sGnQf8 https://youtu.be/60Zg9sGnQf8
- keenerd 10y agoI am not an ornithologist, but my first impression is that it isn't a "funeral". Birds do occasionally hit stuff and this seems more like a response to a possibly unconscious bird. Poke it, yell a bunch, maybe it'll come to. When the bird is actually dead the instinctive response is prolonged?
- betolink 10y ago"...Afterward the birds ignored the harmless Cheneys" No such a thing as a harmless Dick Cheney.
- AimHere 10y agoIndeed. This research is part of Dick Cheney's sinister plot to regain power using an army of crows trained to hate everyone but him...
- lossolo 10y agoIt should have 2015 in name.
- andyidsinga 10y agoI've always liked this one about the raven and bald eagle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0w9q125TSI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0w9q125TSI BTW - I once read somewhere that its its illegal to keep native birds (like crows, robins etc).
- DonHopkins 10y agoSo is the full collective noun "A Murder Investigation of Crows"?
- cloudjacker 10y agoMurder Murder Murder Investigation
- cma 10y agoA murder of crows investigating a murder of crow.
- sharkweek 10y agoSo fascinating! There is a young girl in Seattle who made friends with the local crows by feeding them, they soon were bringing her regular gifts in exchange for her snacks - http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026 I tried to do the same thing in my backyard for about three weeks until one day my wife caught me putting little pieces of bread on our porch railing. She asked what I was doing and I explained making friends with the crows (what else?!). She asked me to stop so I did. My only hope is that they attack her now and not me, with some level of understanding that she was the one who ruined all the fun...
- danielbln 10y agoTo put the story you linked in context, it's less "little girl feeds a couple of crows" and more "large scale feeding operation" that pisses of the neighbors: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Neighbors-sue-to-stop-Seattle-s-bird-feeding-6438345.php http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Neighbors-sue-to-stop...
- AbacusAvenger 10y agoWell, that's one interpretation, and the city and health department have made statements disagreeing with it. We'll see what the courts say eventually, it's scheduled to go to trial in August 2016. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Crow-feeding-Seattle-family-fights-neighbors-6577852.php http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Crow-feeding-Seattle-...
- kabouseng 10y agoI think this says a lot : "A petition signed by 51 neighbors filed a petition with the city of Seattle failed to prompt action."
- danielbln 10y agoHere's another link, with video: http://www.kiro7.com/news/neighbors-sue-parents-portage-bay-girl-who-feeds-c/28794647 http://www.kiro7.com/news/neighbors-sue-parents-portage-bay-...
- sirtastic 10y agoI believe ravens and crows are very similar, this is a personal (long, and not the great) story about a raven I messed around with in Yosemite National Park: When I was up on north dome (not to be confused with half dome) there was a group of raven's hanging out on the rocks watching us eat our late lunch. I had an apple core that I tossed to the side and watched as a raven warily tried to approach it. I walked over and grabbed the apple core before the raven could grab it so I could entertain myself teasing the raven for a bit before we started down the mountain. I started by putting my arm back ready to throw the apple and as I did that I noticed the raven kneel a bit as if getting ready to launch itself. I thought this was interesting as it showed it was anticipating me throwing the object based on my arm motion. As I relaxed my arm the bird also relaxed. I tried grabbing a rock and again watched it brace itself to launch from the rock then tried switching the apple core and the rock behind my back and tossing the rock hoping the bird would dart after it thinking it was the core. The bird didn't do as I expected and instead just watched me carefully never motioning for the rocks. I tore a piece of the apple from the core behind my back and tossed it just as I had with the rocks and before the piece of apple even left my hand the raven leaped from the rock in its direction. This blew my mind. Not sure how the raven knew it was a chunk of apple and not a rock. I messed around with that particular raven for a good 10-15 minutes tossing various things in its direction, testing its reactions and trying to mess with its little raven mind. All I managed to do however was be impressed at its level of experience in dealing with Yosemite tourists such as myself.
- pestaa 10y agoI'm in love with your writing style.
- manojlds 10y ago> I believe ravens and crows are very similar, Have to ask - read only the article title?
- jmnicolas 10y ago> and trying to mess with its little raven mind don't you get that it was the raven that was playing with your little human mind ? ;-)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- cossatot 10y agoMy wife and I picked up a seemingly injured young crow from our yard before the neighborhood cats (or buses) found it, and we took it to a local wounded bird shelter. The crow's family(?) crowed incessantly whenever we walked outside for a few months afterward. They would even start when we were several blocks away, coming home from farther out, and would follow us to our door. (The young crow apparently had a head injury, and we never heard back from the place on its recovery.)
- mathieuu 10y agoIn some regions, they also burn the body to make sure they don't come back from the dead.
- dobecker 10y agomade my day
- dmix 10y ago> Each volunteer was either holding a dead crow, standing near a dead red-tailed hawk—a crow predator—or standing near a dead red-tailed hawk holding the dead crow. I had to reread this about 5 times to make sense of it. Am I just tired from a long work day or is that a poorly phrase sentence?
- gohrt 10y agoholding a dead crow, standing near a dead hawk, or doing both at once.
- jboles 10y agoIt's not clear whether the volunteer or the hawk is holding the dead crow in the last case.
- jboles 10y agoWhy was I down voted? Read the sentence again. Both meanings are syntactically correct. When I first read the article I took the 3rd case to be that the hawk was holding the dead crow, with the human standing nearby.
- steveax 10y agoA couple of years ago, near dusk, I heard a hell of a bird ruckus and went out to the front porch to have a look. What I saw blew me away: a young coyote was making haste down the middle of the street, ears down and tail between its legs being pursued by a very noisy aggressive murder of crows. They literally chased him out of the neighborhood.
- Zelmor 10y agoThis can happen to people as well. I've heard stories about people throwing rocks at ravens in parks, where the ravens at later events responded by crapping on the person from up high, or throwing small rocks and twigs on him as they flew by. Never forgive, never forget.
- helloworld9 10y agoQuote from the Quran 5:31 [1] "Then Allah sent a crow, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the dead body of his brother. 'Woe to me!' said he. 'Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?' Then he became full of regrets." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_in_Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_in_Islam
- bpp 10y agoHoly crap the photo of the volunteer in the mask is terrifying.
- ypeterholmes 10y agoNightmare material right there.
- kaikai 10y ago"How to Troll Crows for Fun and Profit"
- MichaelMoser123 10y agoCrows also seem to be doing analogies http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crows-understand-analogies/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crows-understand-a... Douglas Hofstadter says that thinking is all about making analogies, so that is all pretty remarkable. https://www.amazon.com/Surfaces-Essences-Analogy-Fuel-Thinking/dp/0465018475 https://www.amazon.com/Surfaces-Essences-Analogy-Fuel-Thinki...
- enraged_camel 10y agoBy the way, when there are crows around, do not stare or point at other birds' nests if you spot any among the tree branches. Crows are very good at reading human gestures. If they see a bunch of humans staring and pointing at something, they will understand that there is something of interest in that direction, and will inevitably find and destroy the nests.
- sdkjfwiluf 10y agoOn my way to work one morning I came across a raven funeral. I didn't know that's what it was at the time. All the ravens (Australian) were gathered broadly in a disk amongst the trees, there were about 20 of them, all quiet and quite still. I had a choice of routes, either through them or around them to the right, I chose the latter as I didn't want to disturb whatever they were doing.
- fbonetti 10y agoThe image of the researcher wearing a mask and holding a dead crow is absolutely terrifying: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/03/00/2D0746BE00000578-3258227-image-a-35_1443829916200.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/03/00/2D0746BE0000057...
- theklub 10y agoLooks like something straight out of True Detective
- MistahKoala 10y agoGulls behave similarly, being 'attracted' to predators that have caught a gull and circling in order to learn about their behaviour. https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Gulls_Are_Attracted.html https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Gul...
- conjectures 10y agoVery interesting. I'd love to know how many calls were made to the local police station reporting people in creepy masks standing around with dead crows.
- rollthehard6 10y agoThe notorious Doritos shop lifting sea gull of Aberdeen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqy9hxhUxK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqy9hxhUxK0 And another in South Shield, who favours Greggs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4QXyUjQCgE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4QXyUjQCgE
- agumonkey 10y agoProbably a ridiculous claim, but I think ants have a ant death detection system too. After being invaded, putting dead ants on the path they used to reach the food drawers made them backtrack immediately and stop using that trail altogether.
- throwanem 10y agoNot ridiculous at all. Ants lay pheromone trails for others to follow; I'd surmise that encountering a dead ant provokes a live one to lay a "danger" trail as it retreats.
- tzs 10y agoThey do in fact have a death detection system. http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2009/04/01/102601823/hey-im-dead-the-story-of-the-very-lively-ant http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2009/04/01/102601823/he...
- obj-g 10y agoThat pun at the end.
- nerone 10y agoFor last 2 years, I am suffering from depression. I decided to isolate myself, which I knew was wrong. My parents were worried about my situation since I am living with them. I live in a village where this sort of behavior is condemned, and people are very hardworking(they are either farmers, fishermen, construction workers/helpers). What I noticed was, whenever I go outside of my house a bunch of crows will gather around and caw at me, until I disappear from their site. But they wont follow me in the streets. Some times more than 30 crows will gather near the trees, and kinda shout at me. (I always felt like they were yelling at me, to get a life :) ) So I decided to give a try to get more disciplined. From past to months I wake up at 5 am for gym, and have a routine life. Now none of the crows notice me :). My explanation: These crows can sense how people live and behave. And they found out I was very odd in the community. :) :)
- JTon 10y agoAn alternate explanation: The crows were cawing encouragements :)
- nstart 10y agoSo here's a story for the books. I live in Sri Lanka and we have massive numbers of crows always flying around in the urban areas causing quite the racket too. They are exceptionally intelligent and have been witnessed hitching bus rides regularly from one town to another. But the story I have happened at a school water polo match. The location the match was being played at had a standard pool and a shallow junior pool right next to each other. During the match a wild attempt to score a goal missed the side and the ball smashed full force into a crow who was drinking water from the junior pool. This of course resulted in the poor crow's death. But what was amazing was that within a few minutes, every other crow in the vicinity had surrounded the dying crow and then decided that they would attack the spectators and the players. We had to clear the entire stadium and pool for a good half an hour till they allowed us to return (although they left their dead comrade behind who had to be cleared away by a hapless cleaning staff member). One less impressive story but still relevant to the article. We had an antique air rifle at home that needed repairs. My uncle who did such repairs said he'd come along and look into it. That evening there were plenty of crows around as usual. Most of them were in the trees two houses away. I assume these were crows who had forever lived in urban areas and probably never been shot at let alone seen a gun. They've lived through plenty of fireworks and don't seem all that bothered by them whenever they do go off. But when I brought the gun out to show to my uncle, the ruckus caused was utterly deafening. And just like that, silence. Every single crow had scattered from the area. How they recognised an object like that and so instantly is a question and memory that has stuck around with me forever. Amazing creatures who annoy me with their never ending din and tendencies to somehow make a mess of any garbage bag left out in the open, but they'll always have my absolute respect for their intelligence.
- avar 10y ago> I assume these were crows who had forever lived > in urban areas and probably never been shot at > let alone seen a gun. Easy explanation for this that's probably correct: - Your assumption that crows don't range outside the urban area is false. - It would have only taken one crow in the group to be familiar with a gun - That single individual recognizing it and flying off in a panic triggers the rest to fly off, a behavior typical of herd/flock animals.
- ProfChronos 10y agoFascinating study. It really triggers questions around how animals' memory work - short term vs long-term, trauma vs joy, etc. I have a 2-year French shepherd (Beauceron) who, while being smart, has a very limited long-term memory. I am almost convinced that he cannot make the difference between waiting for me 5 minutes and 5 hours. At the same time, his trauma or joy memory works incredibly well: he perfectly remembers people he only saw 2/3 times when he was 2 months or objects that hurt him. I always feel like animals are trapped between an absolute lack of time and space consciousness and an incredibly sharp conscious of feeling
- Zelmor 10y agoWhat you are talking about are two different things: memories, and sense of time. Most things aside humans, as much as I'm aware of, live in the here and now. So 5 minutes and 5 hours do not make a difference when waiting for something that is NOT here NOW. Alas, humans are different. And thus we suffer.
- prestonpesek 10y agoScientists? Or WITCHES!?!?!? Seriously though, the human behavior study on this is as fascinating as the animal one, and would be really hard to explain in a Salem courthouse. And the picture of the masked scientist holding a dead crow? Add that to the library of images that my subconscious will use to manufacture nightmares. Edgar Allen Poe would be proud if he could see this masterpiece of creepiness.
- mozey 10y agoGives new meaning to the word "scarecrow"
- ogig 10y agoI've been very involved with the carrion crows near my house. I feed them with peanuts. At first they wouldn't even come near the food. Now they salute, ask for food, do fly bys and they get extremely close to me. I have observed them long hours. What most amazes me is how they communicate. They group and start talking complex things using low volume sounds. Maybe they discuss how to stash my peanuts, or what side they will use to approach me, or who will stay back and watch for dangers. They also do long distance talking. At the mornings mainly, the group will remain silent while a designated one will song loud. You can hear distant groups responding. Sometimes this long distance chat start group movements to where I can't follow them. Crow are intelligent, amazing animals. I encourage everyone to look at them more often, they do look at us all the time.
- Dowwie 10y agoRavens played a role in norse mythology, serving as "shamanic helping spirits" who scout for the god Odin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn
- SiVal 10y agoA VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag and some rubber gloves and went outside to collect the crow parts. As soon as I touched the first piece (a large, black, detached wing), a dozen crows appeared out of nowhere flying in tight circles over my head (about the height of the roof of my 2-story house) and shrieking. They must have been standing watch for hours waiting to see what would happen. Within a minute or so, their numbers had doubled, swarming like bees and screeching. They went so berserk that I thought for sure they would swoop down and peck at me like Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", but they didn't. They stayed up there and screeched the whole time I was cleaning up (maybe ten minutes). I took the bag over to the recycling bin on the side of the house. Property is expensive, so the houses are close together leaving only a narrow slit of sky above me. The crows followed me and flew back and forth right above the gap, still screeching at me. I hadn't killed the bird, but they were acting like an angry mob blaming the wrong guy. I was already aware of the studies showing that crows recognize individual people and can bear grudges for years. I was afraid that's what I was going to end up with, but after that event, they never bothered me again, and I see crows around my house frequently. Maybe they DID know that I wasn't the killer, but they had some other agenda. From my perspective, they (and raccoons) are essentially alien intelligences living among us that I always underestimate and still don't understand.
- Unklejoe 10y ago[They stayed up there and screeched the whole time I was cleaning up (maybe ten minutes).] I probably would have went inside and left the remains to nature. I commend your bravery. It seems like a squad of crows could do some real damage to a person. Also, I can confirm that raccoons are very intelligent. They're basically like dogs but with more "street smarts". I learned this after trying to get one to leave my attic. Also, a side note about Raccoons: be sure not to expose yourself to their droppings (for example, if one is living in your attic, don't go and clean up their droppings without proper protection). They can apparently contain some airborne parasite which can kill you in days if inhaled.
- ionwake 10y agoAre there any academics here who could shed light on who is considered more intelligent - a Crow or a Raven? I am aware Ravens are known to mimic sounds more than Crows, unless I am mistaken.
- gerbilly 10y agoReminds of this video where a crow and a feral kitten are friends. The crow even feeds the kitten! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAGzY9rnaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAGzY9rnaA
- peshkira 10y ago...for the watch
- trevorg75 10y agoMurders investigating murders.
- John23832 10y agoThis may sound weird, but in the country (rural Virginia) we already kind of knew this. If you had a farm and crows get in your crops, the solution was to shoot a crow and leave it. The rest of the crows would stay and circle, but they would leave the crops alone. * Not advocating violence against animals. Just sharing that tidbit.
- arviewer 10y agoOh I thought that made an easy target!
- LyndsySimon 10y agoYep. I was taught that if you wanted to shoot crows, to do it away from your house - because they are vindictive little creatures and don't forget.
- viggity 10y agoMore anecdata - there were a bunch of crows who were harassing my elderly outdoor cat. So I grabbed my BB gun and shot one from my bedroom window. The two other companions flew off, but when I went to go dispose of the body, 6 more birds flew over to see what I was doing. Cawing at me the whole time. I didn't want to kill the damn thing. But, our whole street was crow free for at least 2 years.
- btbuildem 10y ago> For instance, in 2008 Marzluff had researchers in caveman masks capture crows while others in a control mask—Dick Cheney—let the birds be. Afterward the birds ignored the harmless Cheneys but scolded and chased the cavemen, and did so for years. I feel like they should have swapped the masks around for this one.
- nxzero 10y agoReminds me of this video: Epic Cat Fight w/ Two Birds http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WQd9kuXpUYU http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WQd9kuXpUYU
- runamok 10y agoI saw a crow get hit by a car right in front of me with a thump because it moved too slow from a mid street meal. Instantly probably 6 or so crows started shrieking and came over to the incident. It was quite sad because it seemed they could tell that something terrible had happened.
- tomdan 10y agoI see you liked the article I linked on reddit yesterday :D
- codezero 10y agoI've rescued several injured crows and every time I've been followed closely by at least two other crows as I brought the crow to my car. Amazingly intelligent and social creatures.
- douche 10y agoGrowing up with a large garden out in the country, we always had a lot of trouble with crows picking newly-sprouted corn. They'd go right along the row and pluck out the seedlings to eat the kernel at the root. At least, they would, until my father would manage to get one with the shotgun and then hang it up from the scarecrow. After that, there wouldn't be a crow in sight for months. They are smart creatures.
- tripzilch 10y agoSo, does this mean we should change the collective noun to "a murder-investigation of crows"?