#8426: — 11/07  at  11:49 AM
Wow. That may be the best movie I have seen all year. Thanks.

#8429: profgrrrrl — 11/07  at  11:53 AM
Ah, birds are amazing creatures, aren't they? Thanks for sharing this.

#8430: — 11/07  at  11:57 AM
I stared at this slack-jawed for several minutes. Seeing chimps and orangutans make tools is one thing... but birds? Once again, the premier primate realizes that it's not as smart as it thinks it is.

#8432: New Kid on the Hallway — 11/07  at  12:14 PM
What a great movie! There's something incredibly wonderful about that. Way to go birdy!

#8435: — 11/07  at  12:42 PM
Wonderful video! Bird brain eh? Corvids have the additional engaging quality of making the most innocent action look like a felony. I love’um!

#8436: — 11/07  at  12:59 PM
I used to work for Irene Pepperberg (while she was at UA). I went in with a healthy dose of skepticism about the parrots' abilities, but am a true believer now. Those birds can do some amazing things.

#8439: — 11/07  at  02:55 PM
Well, that's it, then. Soon the birds will take over, and humans will be forced into slave-labor camps, making birdseed and bending wires.

#8442: Chris Clarke — 11/07  at  03:19 PM
Well, I for one welcome our new corvid.... oh, nevermind.

#8443: bitchphd — 11/07  at  04:15 PM
I adore crows, and that's about the only thing that's made me smile all day. Thanks.

Trackback: Who'll inherit the earth again? Tracked on: Creek Running North (65.58.240.229) at 2004 11 07 14:49:18
PZ Myers - who I need to add to the blogroll - offers this video of a crow dismantling the barrier between us vaunted Homo sapiens and all those other, lesser animals. Yeehaw! PZ's description: The crow has the job...

#8461: tim gueguen — 11/07  at  08:52 PM
Well, you could argue that birds are already on their way to controlling humanity. Look at how many of us put out food for the little blighters.

FYI if you want to attract blue jays to your bird feeder put out uncooked in the shell peanuts. Blue jays absolutely love peanuts. Its interesting to watch them take peanuts, as they'll actually go thru a pile of peanuts before taking one, presumably to find the largest or freshest or something along those lines.

#8462: LiL — 11/07  at  08:55 PM
That's incredible.

#8492: — 11/08  at  12:35 AM
Yay, New Caledonian Crows (Corvus moneduloides)! These guys are the master toolbuilders of the avian world (at least as far as we know up to now. But odds are that this record will at least stay in the family).
In the wild, they produce such hooks from twigs or leaf ribs in a rather standardized size and shape.

In times past, they were quite a nuisance to the humans on this island: like all crows, C. moneduloides are not above taking carrion. Now, the kanakas (New Caledonian natives) had the habit to place their dead on wooden platforms for some religious reason. It must have been a pretty important reason though, because they continued it regardless of the crows.

#8500: mattH — 11/08  at  02:04 AM
Or perhaps because of the crows. Ever heard of the Tibetan Sky Burial? If land was at apremium, I wouldn't be surprised that they might be doing something similar.

#8508: Hank Fox — 11/08  at  03:52 AM
On Highway 395 in the high desert of eastern-central California, between Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, there is a steep 9-mile upward grade on which summer travelers' cars regularly overheat.

Halfway up the grade is a large tank of water, with a simple flush-type handle release, kept there by the California Dept. of Transporation so drivers can pull off and top off overheating radiators.

Some years back, I was driving up that hill and passed by the tank on a hot day. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement near the tank, and glanced over. A raven was balanced on the tank's spout, flapping its wings for balance and apparently using its weight to press down on the handle. Underneath the spout, fluttering vigorously in the stream of water, another raven was taking a bath.

I don't truly know if it was deliberate teamwork or just a happy accident for the raven on the ground. But it looked ... less than accidental.

I think what a lot of people miss, in the overcareful desire not to be accused of anthropomorphization (always in our minds when we see something like this crow film), is that some of the abilities and traits which we hesitate to ascribe to critters -- feelings, for instance, or communication, or in the case of this crow, tool-making -- are not exclusively human abilities.

If tool-making originated somewhen much earlier than humans, it could hardly be called an exclusively human trait, could it? And if it can be handled by a brain as small as that of a crow ... well, it leaves a broad terrain of possibility yet to be explored in the universe of intelligence.

I think the concept of anthropomorphization is built on a flawed foundation, the mistaken original belief (probably derived from religion) that animals were mere clockworks, totally different -- and in every way inferior -- from wonderful us.

Anyway, seeing this crow movie just delights the hell out of me. It reminds me of my raven story, and reawakens the warm awareness of kinship I have for animals.

#8512: Ben — 11/08  at  06:28 AM
I think the concept of anthropomorphization is built on a flawed foundation, the mistaken original belief (probably derived from religion) that animals were mere clockworks, totally different — and in every way inferior — from wonderful us.

Agreed. Many people think it patronising to acknowledge the behavioral, intellectual and physical isomorphisms between the "human" and the "animal" world (which is itself a meaningless distinction since they are one and the same), but I find the tenuous connections extremely satisfying and profound. Almost spiritual, you might say. Almost.