Animal of the Month - Crow
If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.
Henry Ward Beecher
Statistics:
- Average Lifespan in the wild: 14-24 years
- Diet: Anything!
- Speed: 30-60 mph
- Social life: Monogamous, both sexes raise young
Gregarious, adaptable, and extremely intelligent, crows can be found anywhere, especially around humans and their trash. Though often associated with death in European cultures, many indigenous North American cultures regard crows as benevolent tricksters.
Random Fun Facts
- During the Black Plague, doctors would wear crow-shaped masks as they made their rounds. The large “beaks” held perfume to mask the stench.
- The size of a crow's brain relative to its total mass is more similar to that of mammals, including primates, than that of other birds. Furthermore, crows have pronounced forebrains, the part responsible for learning and memory.
- Crows can count to 6.
- Black feathers are stronger than lighter ones.
- Crows “allopreen” (pick bugs off their mates) just like primates.
- Many 1-2 year-old crows stay at home to help raise their siblings
- Crows spread crushed ants over their bodies as an insecticide (and possibly as an intoxicant – party on!!)
Mythology
- Odin, the chief god in the Norse pantheon, has two ravens, Hugin (Thought) and Munin (Memory), who fly around the world and report news back to him each night.
- The Inuit people have a tale of how Crow brought daylight to their world, similar to the Tlingit legend starring Raven.
- Other Myths and Legends about crows
Misconceptions
- “As the crow flies” means “in a straight line;” however, crows tend to meander as much as the rest of us.
- Heckle & Jeckle are actually magpies.
- The name of the “Crow” tribe of Native Americans (the Absaroka or Apsáalooke tribe) is a misnomer. Their sister tribe, the Hidatsa, called them the “people of the large-beaked bird,” which early explorers mistranslated as “people of the crow.” Eagles and buffalo play much larger roles in Absaroka legends than crows do.
Links
Recommended Reads
Nonfiction:
- Ravensong by Catherine Feher Elston
- The Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich
- In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell
- Bird Brain: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays by Candace Savage
Fiction/Poetry
- Crow by Ted Hughes
- Song of the Crow by Layne Maheu