Crow Magnon

[Yar Is Word]

Look at these pictures of crows using tools!

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/crow_photos.shtml

[Shroomster]

get a bird high enough and it'll walk on water. hell, it might even fly.

[Yaris Hilton]

Crows are very smart! I've been observing the ones in my neighborhood for nearly 23 years, and have a small family of them that I feed every day (they LOVE dry cat food!), and they are a source of great entertainment. Naturally paranoid and extremely observant, they're tough to get close to. But these crows know well where their food comes from, and Tuesday they came and ate while I sat in a chair 15 yards away talking to them. I consider it an honor to be trusted by crows. I once saw a crow "trial." A very large group, probably 30, were standing in a circle on a lawn. In the center of the circle stood a big old crow and a young crow. The old crow was getting in the young one's face, really giving it hell, and the young one was cowering. He'd done something very wrong by the crow rules, I think.

[TinyGiant]

did you know if you split the tongue on a crow (down the middle) they can talk like a parrot! there is an odd fact for ya:)

[Yaris Hilton]

Crows raised from infancy can learn to talk without being barbarically abused.

[TinyGiant]

i heard they like the tongues being split. they make their own tools and setup shops to offer the service to their crow neighbors. :tongue:

its much better sounding with the procedure from what i gather.

[Yaris Hilton]

No way. Split your own tongue and see if you talk better. It's animal cruelty and an old wive's tale.

[tomato]

Crows are very smart! I've been observing the ones in my neighborhood for nearly 23 years, and have a small family of them that I feed every day (they LOVE dry cat food!), and they are a source of great entertainment. Naturally paranoid and extremely observant, they're tough to get close to. But these crows know well where their food comes from, and Tuesday they came and ate while I sat in a chair 15 yards away talking to them. I consider it an honor to be trusted by crows. I once saw a crow "trial." A very large group, probably 30, were standing in a circle on a lawn. In the center of the circle stood a big old crow and a young crow. The old crow was getting in the young one's face, really giving it hell, and the young one was cowering. He'd done something very wrong by the crow rules, I think.

Wow. Great story! I don't know much about birds but I'm always impressed when I see them fly in formation. Of course, we may be talking about different birds.

[Yaris Hilton]

Googling up "crows" will turn up lots of interesting stuff. Look for the video of the Japanese crows that drop nuts in the street at crosswalks for cars to run over and crack them, then come down and eat them when the traffic lights stop the cars. And for the crow in New York that mothered a stray kitten.

[cali yaris]

who knows, maybe after we ruin the planet for ourselves, the crows can evolve into the next dominant lifeform. Without need for cars. YEAH.

[GeneW]

Crows are a pestilence around here. They eat freshly planted seed, harass small birds and are general nuisances.

They are pretty intelligent, able to determine the range of a firearm and stay just beyond it.

Gene

[GeneW]

Crows are very smart! I've been observing the ones in my neighborhood for nearly 23 years, and have a small family of them that I feed every day (they LOVE dry cat food!), and they are a source of great entertainment.

You must live in suburbia. In the wilds people have either a laissez faire or utilitarian attitude towards animals. Probably because animals exist in a food chain and die violently - mostly from one another.

Crows to me are just "there", and provided that they leave my garden alone I don't bother them. I have hunted them in the past but killing is a disappointing end to things, so I usually stalk them and surprise them.

Except Deer, which are four legged rats that need destruction.

Gene

[Yaris Hilton]

You're quite right about their ability to recognize and stay just out of range of firearms. Yeah, I know they can be farm pests, but I don't have anything for 'em to hurt here.

[Yar Is Word]

"Here's a surprise: Wild crows can recognize individual people. They can pick a person out of a crowd, follow them, and remember them — apparently for years."

Complete story at NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106826971&sc=fb&cc=fp

[SilverBack]

^And that's why they make good scary stories to tell kids BUAHAHAHAHA!! :evil:

..Too bad we can't get restraining orders on them...

[Yaris Hilton]

The ones here definitely know me, my wife, and the cars we drive.

[Yaris Hilton]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8181233.stm