Crows Remember and Can Retaliate
Good news and good stories can be healing. I got a laugh out of this one today, after having a discussion with my father‘s morning coffee group about the intelligence of birds and specifically crows.
In a now-famous experiment, researchers at the University of Washington made some enemies. They trapped, banded, and released wild crows (an upsetting experience for the crows, even though the crows weren’t harmed) while wearing caveman masks. Researchers who weren’t involved in the trapping wore masks that looked like former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Later, the researchers returned to the area, again wearing the masks. The crows who had been trapped and banded (and even those who had merely witnessed the trapping) dive-bombed the cavemen, while mostly ignoring the Dick Cheneys. Crows recognize faces and, it seems, hold grudges.
From “Crows Are Smart — Just Like Humans, They Hold Grudges and Use Tools” (Discover Magazine, 9 June 2015)
Original experiment and research paper: “Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows” (Animal Behaviour, Volume 79, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 699-707)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347209005806
