Posted on 06/29/2011 4:27:31 AM PDT by Renfield
THE GIST
* Crows remember the faces of "dangerous humans," with the memories likely lasting for a bird's lifetime.
* Crows may scold people who threaten them, bringing in relatives and even strangers to mob the person.
* The crows within mobs then indirectly learn about the person, so they too associate that individual's face with danger and react accordingly.
Crows remember the faces of threatening humans and often react by scolding and bringing in others to mob the perceived miscreant, according to a new study published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Since the mob members also then indirectly learn about the threatening person, the findings demonstrate how just a single crow's bad experience with a particular human can spread information about this individual throughout entire crow communities....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
I love watching crows - they’re fascinating.
There was a hawk that inhabited a field near my house, that I had to cross to reach my LRT.
Everytime I crossed the field, it would swoop down on me, once coming as low as my height, with its talons pointed straight at my head.
As far as I know, the hawk only did this with me and not anybody else.
One way or another, this has just gotta be racist.
You never hear about this kinda crap from snowy egrets.
I know for a fact, many of the “old crows” here on FR recognize me...
Ha ha ha. At first glance I read it as “cow” not “crow.” After clicking on the story I saw it was crow and it made a lot more sense. Though it did have a Gary Larsonish quality to think of cows pecking holes in your peaches and then fleeing when you came around.
LOL....now Eat Mor Chikin’
I don’t know they did this study by having people put on a mask and then the crows went after the person with the mask.
So is this “Hate on the guy with the crooked grin” or is this “Hate on the idiot wearing the mask?”.
Maybe they should have done identical twin studies or something like that.
I wonder how much it cost to find this out.
One of my hobbies is to find a flock of crows with one of those master crows who "rules" over them. They're actually different species and the larger crows are essentially parasites ~ but they're smarter than the less intelligent servant crows.
You find the top guy/gal and talk to them nicely and they'll come closer. Every day you do the same thing and eventually you'll have that crow down within an arm's reach.
If you supplement his/her food he/she will add you to the flock!
Every now and then you can actually capture one of them and teach it to talk ~ not as good as a parrot but enough to understand what they're trying to say.
Crow Whisperer?
I am a man about the size of a mouse. :)
It's just something you can do ~ if you're born with it.
He Who Walks with Crows.
Not crows but Peregrine Falcons photographed in Southern California.
I love to find a flock of them during season set up a caller and a few decoys and kill them.
b
Crows have suffered tremendously from West Nile Fever. They are just now recovering. It’s actually very difficult to find a flock.
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