Our Wolf Birds: The Common Raven
One of our library patrons recently told me a fascinating story about a raven. It was a cold winter here in El Rito but the family dog, Curly Sue, had a well-built, cozy doghouse for those long nights and snowy days. That particular morning the patron was startled to see not just Curly Sue tumble out of the dog house, but a wild raven emerged too, apparently having spent the night with the dog.
I once had a young cat that would crawl into the dog house (only in winter) after our dog was drowsy, but to imagine a bird doing this seemed a stretch to me.
What possessed a raven to seemingly throw caution to the wind? Why didn't the dog harm it?
The Curly Sue and Raven story stuck in my mind. As unlikely as it seemed, this highly intelligent bird had chosen to associate in a most vulnerable way with a carnivore fully capable of killing and eating it.
Thanks to a suggestion from our El Rito librarian Thomas Fortsen who has a knack for remembering people's reading tastes, I've recently been engrossed in Bernd Heinrich's Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf Birds. In this work Henrich compiled years of insightful, often hard-won observations of these highly social and super-smart birds. It offers some insight into why a raven could spend the night with a pet dog.
One of our library patrons recently told me a fascinating story about a raven. It was a cold winter here in El Rito but the family dog, Curly Sue, had a well-built, cozy doghouse for those long nights and snowy days. That particular morning the patron was startled to see not just Curly Sue tumble out of the dog house, but a wild raven emerged too, apparently having spent the night with the dog.
I once had a young cat that would crawl into the dog house (only in winter) after our dog was drowsy, but to imagine a bird doing this seemed a stretch to me.
What possessed a raven to seemingly throw caution to the wind? Why didn't the dog harm it?
The Curly Sue and Raven story stuck in my mind. As unlikely as it seemed, this highly intelligent bird had chosen to associate in a most vulnerable way with a carnivore fully capable of killing and eating it.
Thanks to a suggestion from our El Rito librarian Thomas Fortsen who has a knack for remembering people's reading tastes, I've recently been engrossed in Bernd Heinrich's Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf Birds. In this work Henrich compiled years of insightful, often hard-won observations of these highly social and super-smart birds. It offers some insight into why a raven could spend the night with a pet dog.
Heinrich notes many examples of ravens' deep understanding of wolf behavior and their feeding habits. In places where wolves aren't present ravens resort to associating with human hunters.
Ravens adapt their own feeding strategies to take advantage of wolf and human hunting abilities. They learn to call wolves attention to fresh carcasses which they themselves can't rip open but wolves can. They feed unafraid feasting alongside wolves at carcasses. They frequently pull wolves' tails, perhaps just for fun, perhaps to test their patience.
In short, with their keen intelligence, ravens know wolves and wolves know them.
Many cultures have myths acknowledging raven abilities as trickster, as friend to hunters. It's an association that goes back thousands of years. Modern DNA studies suggest ravens entered North America across the Bering Strait from Asia along with early humans and many other Ice Age creatures.
But back to the doghouse story.
Recent research shows that ravens have sheer brain power comparable to that of middle-sized primates. In the bird world only some parrot species have comparable numbers of neurons in their forebrains.
Bird intelligence has evolved along a separate path from that of mammals. Needing to be lighter overall to accomplish flight, birds make their vital neurons more numerous and smaller. Scientists have long wondered how any birds could perform complex tasks that require brains more like those of primates or elephants or some whales. A bird brain simply packs more power into a smaller space!
Occupying the same territories for a lifetime, ravens observe habits of individual domestic canines and their human owners. Ravens certainly have the capacity to judge and recall a particular dog's temperament and conclude a cold night next to a warm friendly dog is well worth the risk.
contact Lynett Gillette:
director@elritolibrary.org
Ravens adapt their own feeding strategies to take advantage of wolf and human hunting abilities. They learn to call wolves attention to fresh carcasses which they themselves can't rip open but wolves can. They feed unafraid feasting alongside wolves at carcasses. They frequently pull wolves' tails, perhaps just for fun, perhaps to test their patience.
In short, with their keen intelligence, ravens know wolves and wolves know them.
Many cultures have myths acknowledging raven abilities as trickster, as friend to hunters. It's an association that goes back thousands of years. Modern DNA studies suggest ravens entered North America across the Bering Strait from Asia along with early humans and many other Ice Age creatures.
But back to the doghouse story.
Recent research shows that ravens have sheer brain power comparable to that of middle-sized primates. In the bird world only some parrot species have comparable numbers of neurons in their forebrains.
Bird intelligence has evolved along a separate path from that of mammals. Needing to be lighter overall to accomplish flight, birds make their vital neurons more numerous and smaller. Scientists have long wondered how any birds could perform complex tasks that require brains more like those of primates or elephants or some whales. A bird brain simply packs more power into a smaller space!
Occupying the same territories for a lifetime, ravens observe habits of individual domestic canines and their human owners. Ravens certainly have the capacity to judge and recall a particular dog's temperament and conclude a cold night next to a warm friendly dog is well worth the risk.
contact Lynett Gillette:
director@elritolibrary.org
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