Gifts of the Crow
How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Stan Coren’s groundbreaking The Intelligence of Dogs meets Bernd Heinrich’s classic Mind of the Raven in this astonishing, beautifully illustrated look at the uncanny intelligence and emotions of crows.
Playful, social, and passionate, crows have brains that are huge for their body size, which allows them to think, plan, and reconsider their actions. They also exhibit an avian kind of eloquence, mate for life, and associate with relatives and neighbors for years. And to people who care for them and feed them, they often give oddly touching gifts in return.
The ongoing connection between humans and crows—a cultural coevolution—has shaped both species for millions of years. Scientist John Marzluff teams up with artist-naturalist Tony Angell to tell amazing stories of these brilliant birds. With Marzluff’s extraordinary original research on the intelligence and startling abilities of corvids—crows, ravens, and jays—Angell’s gorgeous line drawings, and a lively joint narrative, the authors offer an in-depth look at these complex creatures and the traits and behaviors we share, including language, delinquency, frolic, passion, wrath, risk taking, and awareness. Crows gather around their dead, warn of impending doom, recognize people, commit murder of other crows, lure animals to their death, swill coffee and drink beer, design and use tools—including cars as nutcrackers—and windsurf and sled to play.
With its abundance of funny, awe-inspiring, and poignant stories, Gifts of the Crow portrays creatures who are nothing short of amazing.
Customer Reviews
Caring Crows
I look forward to reading this book as I am fascinated by crows. My favorite personal crow story follows.
My children, twins 4 yrs old and son 6, and our Sheltie Teddy were used to all sorts of birds in our backyard and knew birds were to be watched.
I was putting out the usual bird fare when an injured crow clumsily tried to land on a branch on a small tree in our back yard, it then came down into the grass. When we saw this poor bird land we were concerned for it as it clearly had a broken leg.
Within seconds about 4 or 5 other crows landed, two took up positions on each side of the crow to prop and steady the injured crow. We were in awe; then the other crows took turns bringing the injured crow food, at times feeding, and sometimes placing food in front of the injured crow. We had a small water feature, when the injured crow needed to drink water it hobbled over with the other crows assisting.
They stayed in our yard for about 3 or 4 days caring for their injured friend or relative. I'm glad I saw this as it's hard to believe.
Amazing wildlife!
Karen