4 ms·

Hmm, if you’re literally throwing it at them, yeah, they don’t like that. You just kinda have to throw it where they can see it, then walk away, and they’ll com

Hmm, if you’re literally throwing it at them, yeah, they don’t like that. You just kinda have to throw it where they can see it, then walk away, and they’ll come running over to scoop them up. Do that for a week or two and they’ll start looking for you. Also, cashews are their favorite (based on watching them pick the cashews out of trail mix and then come back for the other stuff later). They don’t let me get close to them, but sometimes they do fly up from behind and tap me on the back of the head to get my attention. Also, unlike the guy up the street, I only throw out a few at a time so they have to sort of follow me to get anything. My ultimate goal is to be able to point at someone and have the crows attack them like in Bioshock. It’ll be my thing for when society collapses. So far, however, I think our relationship is much more “let’s get some peanuts off this sucker” than “I’ll loyally follow this peanut person into battle”.

prox 4y ago
I few times I made a pointing “forwards” gesture and then went ahead to where I pointed, although they probably knew my route already. But halfway there ;)
colechristensen 4y ago
Crows really like Cheetos.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  Which is why humanity is preserving Cheetos for future corvid civilizations to discover 10,000 years from now: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 We may wipe ourselves out through war and climate destruction, but the crows will survive and evolve, and CAWrchaeologists will discover our final gift to corvidkind and - hopefully - remember us fondly.
lioeters 4y ago
> point at someone and have the crows attack I imagine this would be a conceptual leap for their intelligence, to understand the meaning of "pointing" and to make a connection to the target, what's being pointed at. But then again, I suppose hunting dogs have achieved it - they know what to attack - so it might be possible for smart crows too. Now that I think about it, there are cultures where people train hawks for practical hunting purposes. So taming crows may not be too far-fetched, though it might take a few generations..

prox 4y ago

I few times I made a pointing “forwards” gesture and then went ahead to where I pointed, although they probably knew my route already. But halfway there ;)

colechristensen 4y ago

Crows really like Cheetos.

yellowapple 4y ago
Which is why humanity is preserving Cheetos for future corvid civilizations to discover 10,000 years from now: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 We may wipe ourselves out through war and climate destruction, but the crows will survive and evolve, and CAWrchaeologists will discover our final gift to corvidkind and - hopefully - remember us fondly.

lioeters 4y ago

> point at someone and have the crows attack I imagine this would be a conceptual leap for their intelligence, to understand the meaning of "pointing" and to make a connection to the target, what's being pointed at. But then again, I suppose hunting dogs have achieved it - they know what to attack - so it might be possible for smart crows too. Now that I think about it, there are cultures where people train hawks for practical hunting purposes. So taming crows may not be too far-fetched, though it might take a few generations..