1.The raven is the
largest bird of the crow family: it is twice heavier than a common crow at 1.3
kg (3 pounds), being 60 cm (two feet) long, with a wingspan of almost 1 m (3.3
ft). Ravens can live 40 years in the wild and 70 in captivity.
2.Ravens can soar high
above the trees, unlike crows, which rely on active flight. Ravens are capable
of aerial stunts similar to those executed by the birds of prey.
3.Like in many other
birds, when a raven is on a branch, the feet's muscles and tendons constrict
automatically the toes, so that the birds waste little energy on this.
4.Ravens live from
deserts to coniferous forests and coastal cliffs. In forests, they nest in
stick-made nests on trees, on deserts in rock cavities.
5.They feed on fruits,
seeds, nuts, fish, carrion, small animals, food remains and garbage. They even
dig on snow to inspect plastic bags with waste. They also follow for days
fishers and hunters. Ravens are known to steal the food of many birds and
mammals, even from dogs. They can act in pairs: one individual captures dog's
attention, while the other steals its food. They also
follow wolf packs for
picking remains from their preys.
6.The Chinese, Egyptian,
Greek, Semitic and Siberian legends depict the raven as a messenger of storms
or bad weather. In African, Asian and European legends, the raven forecasts
death. Shakespeare presents ravens as messengers or exponents of evil (like in
"Julius Caesar", "Macbeth" and "Othello"), while
in "Titus Andronicus" they are described as benefactors feeding
abandoned children. In his poem "The Raven", Edgar Allan Poe
associates this bird with lost love and despair.
7.Raven's calls can
express tenderness, happiness, surprise, emotion or rage. Ravens can imitate
birds with the same vocal note, mimicking perfectly the crows. The penetrating
loud croak signals that something has disturbed the raven. Some say they can be
even taught to learn the human speech.
8.Ravens are considered
the most intelligent birds, displaying high learning ability and use of logic
for solving problems, in some tests bypassing the chimpanzees. In one
experiment, a raven had to reach a piece of meat dangling from strings bound to
perches. To get to the food, a raven had to follow a series of actions: pull up
a string stretch, hold a loop of it on the perch with a claw, then pull up
another stretch and hold that loop. The birds had to repeat the action 6 times
till getting the meat, while even after 30 trial crows did not succeed.
Ravens could perform this
complex sequence of actions straight away and they have never seen string
before or encountered meat hanging this way. These birds pass very well complex
tests, including "no tests" or "trial and error" ones that
involve logic.
Ravens put other animals
to do tasks for them. Their beak cannot open tough skins of the carcasses,
that's why when they encounter a big corpse, they make calls that attract
wolves and foxes to the site and the large carnivores can break the carcass to
expose the meat for the birds.
The raven's developed
intelligence is connected to their complex social lives and scavenging
lifestyles. The birds must find out very rapidly how to locate themselves far
enough from a wolf or fox not to be exposed to an attack when sharing a dead
animal but close enough to get food.
Ravens have been even
taught to count.
9.Due to their
intelligence, ravens are very playful. They prank with the wolves. Once a raven
headed towards a sleeping wolf and pinched it by its tail. When the wolf dashed
to bite the raven, the bird jumped out. When the wolf approached tiptoe to the
raven, the bird let it approach till 30 cm and flew away, landing a few meters
of the wolf's back and repeating the prank.
Another raven played with
wolf cubs. When the cubs had enough of playing, the raven croaked till they
started playing again. In Yellowknife (northwestern Canada) ravens perched on
the roofs of supermarkets waited for people to pass so that they could push snow
on them.
10.Ravens like to drug
themselves. They practice myrmecomany (from Old Greek "myrmex" ant,
"mania" obsession). The bird sits on the soil or on an ant nest,
opens its wings stretched forward, while it curbs its tail toward its belly. In
the first step, the bird lets itself be invaded by angry ants and sometimes it
picks ants one by one, squashing them a little bit, to introduce them inside
the plumage.
Once fully covered by
insects, the bird starts executing some bizarre contortions, coiled movements
and spins of the body, keeping the head always risen, the feathers extended and
saliva over the bill, with an absolutely delighted face. This step lasts
roughly 30 minutes. After that, the bird shakes itself to get rid of the ants.
Veerapagupathy,
Chothavilai Beach,
Thengamputhoor,
Kanyakumari.
04652-221337,
9500946904.
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