In the Robin Williams thread, Mr. Firefly whom I have always regarded as the most interesting and astute contributor to this forum, wrote: "EVERY living thing has an innate sense of self of self preservation."
This statement brought to mind an episode of the TV series "Nature" which my wife DVR'd the other week and that we got around to watching earlier this week.
My favorite bird has been the raven ever since I first saw them during a camping and fishing trip I took to the Yukon Territories in the mid-1970s. And of course, the raven plays a pivotal role in the culture of the people who first came to live along the Washington, BC, and SE Alaska coast.
Growing up in Hawaii, I never encountered ravens, of course, nor were there any crows. The role of the crow as a general clean-up specialist is filled by the mynah bird.
When I moved to the PNW crows became an everyday sight and sound, but I knew little about them other than they were supposed to be "smart." I had no idea how smart until we watched that show this week.
Crows are found on every continent except Antarctica, and they are, in fact, the world's smartest bird. Parrots have larger brains in proportion to their size, but their intelligence pales to that of the crow. Crows, which mate for life, have several languages that they use to broadcast information loudly or converse quietly with their extended families.
The video centers around experiments carried out at the University of Washington and in the New Hebrides to determine if crows learn to recognize individual human faces (they not only do, but they can pass this recognition on to their young), and if they can figure out a multiple-step process to achieve an objective.
The crows in the New Hebrides not only use a tool to pull food out of deep plants and crevices, but they have learned how to make the tool. But the really impressive thing was to watch one of these crows figure out on the spot a multiple step process to obtain one of these tools that had been placed out of reach.
A piece of food was placed in a glass tube where the crow would have to use a tool to get it out. Then a tool was put in the back of a small cage where the crow on the outside couldn't reach it. Then a short twig was tied to a string and suspended from a perch some distance from the top of the table where the cage and the food was.
The bird, which had not encountered this "test" before, was put onto the table. Within seconds, it had figured out what had to be done. It flew up to the perch and pulled the string up one pull at a time, preventing the string from going back out by standing on it each time he pulled more up. Then the bird worked the short stick out of the knot that was holding it, flew down to the table and used it to fish the tool out of the back of the cage. It then took the tool and used it to pull the food out of the glass tube.
According to the video, primates (other than man) are hard-pressed to recognize and complete a multiple-step process to achieve an objective like this.
Like most things man encounters, we take crows for granted and tend to think of them as "annoying, noisy, stupid, black birds." We shoot them just because we can and generally give them no regard at all.
If you can find this particular episode of Nature (it was produced several years ago), perhaps on Netflix or whatever, I believe it's well worth watching. It provides what to me is a fascinating insight into an element of our world that most of us know nothing about, even though it's an almost constant presence in our lives. While they are not seabirds, those of us who boat in the PNW are always in the presence of crows in the islands, on the beaches, on the docks, and in the fields and forests adjoining the shorelines.
The program did not talk about ravens, so at this point I don't know if ravens possess the same intelligent attributes of crows or not. But learning something about another living thing's "innate sense of self" has enhanced my appreciation for where I live that much more.
To steal the slogan of "The Weather Channel, "It's amazing out there."
(I took this photo of a raven from the porch of our house at Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island,BC.)
This statement brought to mind an episode of the TV series "Nature" which my wife DVR'd the other week and that we got around to watching earlier this week.
My favorite bird has been the raven ever since I first saw them during a camping and fishing trip I took to the Yukon Territories in the mid-1970s. And of course, the raven plays a pivotal role in the culture of the people who first came to live along the Washington, BC, and SE Alaska coast.
Growing up in Hawaii, I never encountered ravens, of course, nor were there any crows. The role of the crow as a general clean-up specialist is filled by the mynah bird.
When I moved to the PNW crows became an everyday sight and sound, but I knew little about them other than they were supposed to be "smart." I had no idea how smart until we watched that show this week.
Crows are found on every continent except Antarctica, and they are, in fact, the world's smartest bird. Parrots have larger brains in proportion to their size, but their intelligence pales to that of the crow. Crows, which mate for life, have several languages that they use to broadcast information loudly or converse quietly with their extended families.
The video centers around experiments carried out at the University of Washington and in the New Hebrides to determine if crows learn to recognize individual human faces (they not only do, but they can pass this recognition on to their young), and if they can figure out a multiple-step process to achieve an objective.
The crows in the New Hebrides not only use a tool to pull food out of deep plants and crevices, but they have learned how to make the tool. But the really impressive thing was to watch one of these crows figure out on the spot a multiple step process to obtain one of these tools that had been placed out of reach.
A piece of food was placed in a glass tube where the crow would have to use a tool to get it out. Then a tool was put in the back of a small cage where the crow on the outside couldn't reach it. Then a short twig was tied to a string and suspended from a perch some distance from the top of the table where the cage and the food was.
The bird, which had not encountered this "test" before, was put onto the table. Within seconds, it had figured out what had to be done. It flew up to the perch and pulled the string up one pull at a time, preventing the string from going back out by standing on it each time he pulled more up. Then the bird worked the short stick out of the knot that was holding it, flew down to the table and used it to fish the tool out of the back of the cage. It then took the tool and used it to pull the food out of the glass tube.
According to the video, primates (other than man) are hard-pressed to recognize and complete a multiple-step process to achieve an objective like this.
Like most things man encounters, we take crows for granted and tend to think of them as "annoying, noisy, stupid, black birds." We shoot them just because we can and generally give them no regard at all.
If you can find this particular episode of Nature (it was produced several years ago), perhaps on Netflix or whatever, I believe it's well worth watching. It provides what to me is a fascinating insight into an element of our world that most of us know nothing about, even though it's an almost constant presence in our lives. While they are not seabirds, those of us who boat in the PNW are always in the presence of crows in the islands, on the beaches, on the docks, and in the fields and forests adjoining the shorelines.
The program did not talk about ravens, so at this point I don't know if ravens possess the same intelligent attributes of crows or not. But learning something about another living thing's "innate sense of self" has enhanced my appreciation for where I live that much more.
To steal the slogan of "The Weather Channel, "It's amazing out there."
(I took this photo of a raven from the porch of our house at Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island,BC.)
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