Dr. Kaeli Swift on Corvid Research notes a newly observed behavior in Corvids – aka, crows:
Corvus macrorhynchos, the large-billed crow. Just call him Jimmy Big Mouth.
Image source: WikipediaAsk any crow feeder about their ritual and there’s a good chance that it starts with more than just making themselves visible. To get “their” bird’s attention, about half of crow feeders start with some kind of auditory cue, like a whistle or gentle name calling. Given that American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) can be individually distinguished by their calls, and many corvids—including the large-billed crows (Corvus macrorhynchos)—can recognize familiar conspecific calls, this strategy seems far from superstitious. In fact, previous work has demonstrated that crows can discriminate human voices.
When presented with playback of their caretakers or unfamiliar speakers saying, “hey,” hand-reared carrions crows (Corvus corone) showed significantly more responsiveness towards unfamiliar speakers. That their response is different is what suggests that they can discriminate, but it’s hard to not do a double take at the fact that the thing they seem more interested in is the person they don’t know. Shouldn’t they be more interested in the folks that generally come bearing gifts? While we still don’t have a super satisfying answer to this question, it’s possible this comes from the fact that novel humans are less predictable, and therefore more threatening, than a familiar caretaker who can be safely ignored. Likewise, a new study out suggests that it’s not just individual people crows can hear the difference between, but entire languages.
Recognizing unfamiliar human languages – for intellectual amusement, or as a survival mechanism? Fascinating stuff. I’ll go for the latter, but I’ll only put $5 into the pot, because, frankly, Corvids are known to raid the pot when you turn your back..
