Quoth the raven

Following on from the previous post, while all the members of the crow family are intelligent, it's the biggest and blackest of the clan that's the brightest: the raven. Ornithologists and bird watchers tell all sorts of stories about its intelligence, ranging from the fact that ravens can count (an oft used trick of bird watchers is for two or three people to enter a hide, and then for one observer to remain behind when the others leave. Most birds will think that the hide is then empty and resume their activities. Not the raven: it counts them in and it counts them out and it won't return until all the people have gone) to an ability to use deception for its own ends (I remember reading in one journal of an observer watching a raven attacking a carcass in winter time. In this area, animals are sometimes poisoned and the ravens know that to eat such a carcass is to invite sickness and possibly even death. Anyway, the raven and the birdwatcher simultaneously noticed another group of ravens heading in their direction. This would mean the solitary bird having to share its meal with many other hungry beaks. To his astonishment, the watching man saw the feeding raven fall over on its side, apparently dead. The flight of ravens passed overhead and, seeing their lifeless comrade below, assumed that the carcass was poisoned and flew on. When they were safely out of sight the raven opened one black eye, checked, and then hopped back onto its feet and resumed feeding.)

Anyway, here is another example of raven intelligence, from the pages of 'The Economist':

The task was to work out which colour-coded film containers held some bits of cheese, then prise the containers open and eat the contents. The subordinate male was far better at this task than the dominant. However, he never managed to gulp down more than a few pieces of the reward before the dominant raven, Munin, was hustling him on his way. Clearly (and not unexpectedly) ravens are able to learn about food sources from one another. They are also able to bully each other to gain access to that food.

But then something unexpected happened. Hugin, the subordinate, tried a new strategy. As soon as Munin bullied him, he headed over to a set of empty containers, prised the lids off them enthusiastically, and pretended to eat. Munin followed, whereupon Hugin returned to the loaded containers and ate his fill.

At first Dr Bugnyar could not believe what he was seeing. He was anxious about sharing his observation, for fear that no one would believe him. But Hugin, he is convinced, was clearly misleading Munin.

The full story, with further evidence for intelligence in this genius of the corvid family, is here. (With thanks to Chad for telling me how to do indented quotes.)

Comments

[Sharon]

Fascinating stories, very interesting.

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