Don't Cross a Crow

Last Updated (Monday, 06 October 2008 08:32) Written by Raymond Nakamura

Crow aficionados have long suspected crows can tell people apart. My saintly friend Roma has a couple of "pet" crows she feeds regularly. She says that when she gets out of her car, they caw to her. They also let her approach them more closely than others from her home.

The power of science is in testing beliefs, because it's so easy for people to fool themselves. You may have heard that some crows use cars as nutcrackers. When scientists investigated this closely, they realized the crows dropped walnuts onto hard surfaces like roads, and sometimes, cars happened to help out..

Long-time crow researcher, Dr. John Marzluff at the University of Washington decided to test how well crows remember faces. He and assistants wore masks while doing things like putting tags on crows to compare how the crows reacted to different people wearing the same masks while walking around. The crows were much more likely to scold those who wore the masks worn while tagging.

I've had a beef with crows ever since one pecked the prime rib we'd left on the porch on a cool day because we didn't have room in the fridge. But it's a good thing I didn't attempt some kind revenge, or they might have found a way to make me eat crow.

What experiences have you had facing the intelligence of crows?

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