THE CROW PART 4 Dearfriends,
I amcontinuing more about the crow in this part of the posting. Most of theinformation are compilation from websites. I wish all members aHAPPY PONGAL Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan 14-1-2022. 26 Intelligence The brain-to-body weight ratiosof corvid brains are among the largest in birds, equal to that of great apes and cetaceans, and only slightly lower thana human. Theirintelligence is boosted by the long growing period of the young. By remainingwith the parents, the young have more opportunities to learn necessary skills.Since most corvids are cooperative brooders, their young can learn fromdifferent members of the group. When compared to dogs and catsin an experiment testing the abilityto seek out food according to three-dimensional clues, corvids out-performed themammals. A metaanalysis testing how often birdsinvented new ways to acquire food in the wild found corvids the most innovativebirds. A 2004 reviewsuggests that their cognitive abilities are on par with those of great apes.Despite structural differences, the brains of corvids and great apes bothevolved the ability to make geometrical measurements. Some corvids demonstrate thecapacity for imagination, something believed to be otherwise unique to humans. My note- I think long back our elders might have noted it and so the crow is told as representing pithru Corvidingenuity is represented through their feeding skills, memorization abilities,use of tools, and group behaviour. Living in large social groups has long beenconnected with high cognitive ability. To live in a large group, a member mustbe able to recognize individuals and track the social position and foraging ofother members over time. Members must also be able to distinguish between sex,age, reproductive status, and dominance, and to update this informationconstantly. It might be that social complexity corresponds to their highcognition. The European Magpie is one of the few non-mammalspecies known to be able to recognize itself in a mirror test. Thereare also specific examples of corvid cleverness. One Carrion Crow was documented to crack nutsby placing them on a crosswalk, letting the passing cars crack the shell, waiting for the light to turnred, and then safely retrieving the contents. My note- This phenomenaappeared in a group posting also. A group of crows in England took turns liftinggarbage bin lids while their companions collected food. Membersof the corvid family have been known to watch other birds, remember where theyhide their food, then return once the owner leaves. Corvids also move their food around betweenhiding places to avoid thievery, but only if they have previously been thievesthemselves i.e., theyremember previous relevant social contexts, use their own experienceof having been a thief to predict the behavior of a pilferer, and can determinethe safest course to protect their caches from being pilfered. Studies to assesssimilar cognitive abilities in apes have been inconclusive. Theability to hide food requires highly accurate spatial memories. Corvids havebeen recorded to recall their food's hiding place up to nine months later. Itis suggested that vertical landmarks (like trees) are used to rememberlocations. There has also been evidence that Western Scrub-Jays, which store perishable foods,not only remember where they stored their food, but for how long. This has been compared toepisodic memory, previously thought unique to humans. 27 Darwin’s theory- Crow has developed intelligence amongbirds Duringthe 19th century there arose the belief that crows were the 'most advanced' birds, basedupon the belief that Darwinian evolution brings 'progress'. In such aclassification the 'most intelligent' of birds were listed last reflectingtheir position 'atop the pyramid'. Modern biologists somehowreject the concept of hierarchical 'progress' in evolution. 28Crow-Relationship with humans Severaldifferent corvids, particularly ravens, have occasionally served as pets, although they are not able tospeak as readily as parrots and do not like being caged 29 120Species in raven family Corvidaeis a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows,ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers.Thecommon English names used are corvids or the crow family, and there are over 120 species. The genusCorvus, including the jackdaws, crows and ravens, makes up over a third of theentire family. 30. Kakkasseri Bhattathiri He was aperson who could understand what the crows talked and communicate with them. Hecould identify the crows coming regularly, occasionally etc. 31 Vocalisation of crows Crowsmake a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Whether the crows' system ofcommunication constitutes a language is a topic of debate and study. Crows have also been observed torespond to calls of other species; This behaviour is presumablylearned because it varies regionally. Crows' vocalizations are complex andpoorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a"Koww", usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of"Kowws" in discrete units, counting out numbers, a long caw followedby a series of short caws usually made when a bird takes off from a perch. Crows can hear sound frequencies lower than thosethat humans can hear, which complicate the study oftheir vocalizations. Loud,throaty "caw-aw-ah"'s are usually used to indicate hunger or to markterritory. When defending a nest site or food, crows will usually enlarge theircrest feathers and hunch their shoulders to increase their size. Softer,gurgling sounds have also been observed as a sort of beckoning call, or a callof affection. These noises are emitted from within the throat of the bird, muchlike a cat's purring. 32. Human identification Recentresearch suggests that crows have the ability to recognize one individual humanfrom another by facial features. (Totally a new information read fromwikipedia) 33. Crows in culture and mythology Crows,and especially ravens, often feature in European legends or mythology asportents or harbingers of doom or death, because of their dark plumage, unnervingcalls, and tendency to eat carrion (including those of humans). They are commonly thought to circleabove scenes of death such as battles. In occultcircles, distinctions are sometimes made between crows and ravens. In mythology and folklore as awhole, crows tend to be symbolic more of the spiritual aspect of death, or thetransition of the spirit into the afterlife , whereas ravens tendmore often to be associated with the negative (physical) aspect of death. Anotherreason for this distinction is that while crows are typically highly socialanimals, ravens don'tseem to congregate in large numbers anywhere but: Nearcarrion where they meet seemingly by chance, or At cemeteries, where large numbers sometimeslive together, even though carrionthere is no more available (and probably less attainable) than any road or field. 34 The white crow become black- story Inclassical Greek mythology, when the crow told the god Apollo that his loverCoronis was cheating on him with a mortal, he became very angry, and part ofthat anger was directed at the crow, whose feathers he turned from white to black. So there is some truth in telling vellakakka malarnnu parannu. (Whitecrow flew body upside down) in Malayalam. 35Balikakka InHinduism, it is believed that people who died will take food and offeringsthrough a variety of crows called "Bali kakka". Everyyear people whose parents or relatives died will offer food to crows as well ascows. This is on the sraaddha day forBrahmins. 36 Battle between owls and crows A battlebetween crows and owls is said to have inspired the final night of theMahabharatha war. 37 In Buddhisam InBuddhism, the Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) Mahakala is represented by acrow in one of his physical/ earthly forms. 38 Dalailama and crow alokiteśvara,who is reincarnated on Earth as the Dalai Lama, is often closely associatedwith the crow because it is said that when the first Dalai Lama was born,robbers attacked the family home. The parents fled and were unable to get tothe infant Lama in time. When they returned the next morning expecting theworst, they found their home untouched, and a pair of crows was caring for the Dalai Lama.It is believed that crows heralded the birth of the First, Seventh, Eighth,Twelfth and Fourteenth Lamas, the latter being the current Dalai Lama, TenzinGyatso. 39 Chinese mythology InChinese mythology, theworld originally had ten suns embodied as ten crows, which rose inthe sky one at a time. When all ten decided to rise at once, the effect wasdevastating to crops, so the gods sent their greatest archer Houyi, who shot down nine crowsand spared only one. Having a "crow beak" is a symbolicexpression that one is being a jinx. This is the final and concluding part of theposting on the crows -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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