*The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.
— Jack Handey*
A couple years ago I was walking across a parking lot, and over yonder were a cluster of what I thought were crows, judging by their size that is, though I suppose they could have been ravens. This thread has me wondering now.
Anyway, about four of them had gathered around an abandoned fast-food meal lying there on the asphalt. They took turns nibbling at it, while looking around for any trouble. At the moment I walked by, one of them was standing there with three french fries clutched in his beak, looking completely ridiculous. But probably happy.
This sight cheered me up for weeks to come. In fact, it still does.
A public aviary we used to go to had a crow that had been trained to say “Caw”–but exactly the way a person would.
I remember the meat on a string study, too. I’m thinking it was in *Scientific American[\i], but it was a number of years ago.
We have a lot of ravens around here. A number of them have nests on the UCSD library.
In the book I mentioned above, the author notes that crows can sometimes solve this puzzle by trial and error; he has seen ravens look at the puzzle for a while, then solve it on the first attempt.
They are certainly big, but at only about 25% the weight of an eagle and with a very different flying style, they should be easy to tell apart.
You are right (though it’s also rare to see a squashed crow). The author of that book notes that almost all humans who’ve had ravens as pets consider the raven the most intelligent animal, which means either that ravens are quite intelligent, or they have an unusual ability to fool humans on this point.
Stoke’s only about half-way up the country – I’d think of it as in the Midlands. Of course someone will come on here now indignantly pointing out that of course Stoke’s in the North – but if it is, it’s right at the southern end, and in terms of vocabulary I doubt it counts.
The OED, fine publication that it is, can be infuriatingly vague with its references to “northern England” – as though it’s all one, linguistically, which I can assure you it isn’t. The change in terminology may indeed be further north, or perhaps it’s only in the east between Grimsby and Whitby, or indeed may no longer exist at all in England. Certainly I’ve spent all my life between Hadrian’s Wall and the Scottish Border and a rook is a rook, as far as I know.
Interesting. I’ve also heard some bold claims made for African grey parrots, who are apparently brainy enough to answer questions and solve simple problems involving shapes, colors, and numbers. (This is what makes them great pets. They can do your laundry for you.)
It might be difficult to compare parrots with ravens, but can we say one is more intelligent than the other? Perhaps someone should pose the raven String Puzzle to a grey parrot, or a similar problem, and see whether it too can reason out solutions in its head before trying them.
Sorry if this is a hijack. I realize the thread is really about ravens and crows, not smart birds in general.
I’ll admit I didn’t get out my atlas and look up, again, where Stoke-on-Trent is.
I certainly hope I don’t start a battle between you excitable English. After all, if you had a war over Jenkins’ Ear who knows what would happen over whether or not something is or is not “north.”
I have a friend with an African Grey parrot, and I agree it’s a remarkable bird.
I suspect the number of people with ravens as pets is much smaller. For one thing, they are a serious nuisance - amazingly mischevious, with a strong tendency to steal and hide things (and the more you value something, the more they want it). My friend who’s had a couple has been forbidden by his wife to even consider another.
I’m told that crows can make good pets. They are less troublesome than ravens (perhaps not saying much), and more loyal: once imprinted, they will stick with you for life, whereas ravens usually depart in the fall.
