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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stone the crows!

Hitchcockian Crows Spread the Word About Unkind Humans


When I lived down under there was a saying "Stone the crows!" which is an exclamation of incredulity or annoyance. I just had to add that piece of trivia into this article about Crows and how they never forget a face!
Crow (disambiguation)photo © 2008 Kevin Cole | more info (via: Wylio)

The article from LiveScience.com begins with:


The common crow knows when you're out to get him — and he's likely to teach his friends and family to watch out for you, a new study finds.

In results that can only be described as Hitchcockian, researchers in Seattle who trapped and banded crows for five years found that those birds don't forget a face. Even after going for a year without seeing the threatening human, the crows would scold the person on sight, cackling, swooping and dive-bombing in mobs of 30 or more.

"Most of the birds that are scolding us are not the ones we captured," said study researcher John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington and an occasional victim of crow attacks. "It's likely that they're learning from their parents and their peers that this dangerous person is still out there."

It also says Crows are savvy birds and they hold a grudge!

Read the article in its entirety here at LiveScience.com

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