Crows are very intelligent birds, more intelligent than they look and that could be said for so many mammals and birds.
Scientists, researchers and enthusiasts have spent so many years studying their behavior, in an attempt to understand why they do some of the things we find them doing.
One of the things they've learned which I believe would surprise you if you weren't already aware is that crows seem to investigate the death of one of their own. A literal investigation just like we do when a person dies. Of course not with sophisticated investigation tools, you don't exactly see a crow going around picking samples, wearing gloves unless maybe if you're watching a Disney animation film.
This behavior of crows has been shown through studies that have explored how crows react when they see another dead crow. You'll be fascinated by what was found.
The most famous research till date into this behavior was done by Dr. John Marzluff and his team at the University of Washington in the 90s.
The initial intent of the experiment was to understand how crows remember things, so they set up that experiment where they captured and banded crows. While they carried on with their experiment on the crows, the researchers wore special masks.
Now, after the crows were released, the researchers noticed something unusual and very interesting. The crows began to react aggressively to anyone wearing the same mask the researchers wore while experimenting on the crows, even though the researchers hadn’t harmed the crows.
That inferred that these crows actually recognized the masks and seemed to connect them with the danger of being captured.
So basically if you're wearing that mask, they see you as a threat and they think you're about to capture them.
This behavior is evidence that crows have a powerful memory and can actually remember faces for a really long time. They did not forget the people who had captured them.
This study also proved that crows are able to associate death or danger with specific people or objects, like the mask and they end up holding onto that memory.
What made it even more freakishly interesting was that the crows didn’t just remember the people who had captured them by the mask association, but they also passed this knowledge on to other crows.
So if one crow was to learn about a threat, it could warn others. It's a survival trait, the ability to share information would help the entire crow community stay safe. Bet you didn't know that right?
However the connection between death and crows goes even deeper than just passing on information or memory. When a crow dies, other crows would usually gather around the dead crow's body. It may seem like a simple reaction to a dead crow but it's much more than that.
The crows are actually investigating. They look around checking for danger, wondering what might have caused the death of that crow.
Scientists believe and it should be pretty obvious that this could be a survival strategy. They learn how the crow died to avoid the same fate or learn about the predator that caused the death and avoid the predator.
Crows are highly social animals, they're usually together and this behavior is necessary to share survival information.
It is not just the mask experiment, several other experiments have been made. One other interesting research was conducted and the researchers observed that crows do not only remember faces but also recognize certain situations, like the presence of a predator or a threat and they're able to change their behavior based on what they’ve learned from what they recognized. Ain't that something?
It actually shows that crows have an understanding of cause and effect, somewhat like we do.
The main point is about their level of consciousness. Living things regardless of their species have a level of consciousness, it may not be as complex as that of a human being or some highly evolved mammals but it's a level. They're clearly aware of their surroundings and have memory. Besides, with a brain, they are expected to at least have memory functions.
Screenshot of crow around another dead crow from YouTube
