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CommentAuthorRootfireember
- CommentTimeMay 25th 2009
Congo african greys are also up there with the new caledonian crows as far as intelligence goes;
see also the Alex foundation's e-papers listing here.
I always liked the tale of the raven at yellowstone that used to steal the lunches from one of the ranger's motorcycle bags. -
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...I think a "holy shit" is pretty appropriate. Hell, I'm not even sure if I'd have thought of that on my own, and I'm Human.
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The next test is to get 1000 crows, cut their flight feathers, and put them in a room with all the raw materials to make a car, and see how long it takes them to drive to the nearest supermarket.
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CommentAuthororwells_eyes
- CommentTimeMay 25th 2009 edited
SUICIDE SQUADS OF BIRDS ARE ATTACKING OUR AIRCRAFT!
You all laughed when Dick Cheney took his gun to hunt and kill.
Who laughs now? -
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No, I never laughed at the idea of Dick Cheney with a gun...
But not even Cheney can save us now! The English have sold us out! They house these cunning beasts in luxury and cater to their depraved whims! Warren, your people have doomed us all to corvid slavery!
...
Okay, maybe I need to lay off the crazy-juice. -
they knew crows could use tools like that for years :P. In fact, I got to meet one of the first famous test subjects at the Cincinnatti zoo many years ago (that might even be her in the video). She was held in the petting zoo with her mate when I met her. Apparently her mate was a son of a bitch and during the testing, instead of making his own tools, he would wait until she made a good one, and then would steal it and use it himself...
When I walked up to her cage, she said Hello in a very clear crowish voice then ducked her head down against her chest so I could reach up and scratch the back of her neck. I pet her for a while (her mate was rather stand offish and silent), and when I started walking away she said Hello again and offered her neck for more scritches. It took me a good twenty minutes to finally get away, and that was with her beggin for more affection as I walked away...wanting to steal her and take her home...:P
I love watching the crows around here. They are neat birdies. I've seen then faking broken wings in order to get handouts, and once saw a video of them using a busy intersection to crush walnuts....
When I was a kid, my dad was having alot of problems with crows in his garden. He tried everything to get rid of them-shiny pie plates hung by strings, scare crows, flappy plastic bags...etc...eventually, as sad as he was to do it, he shot one of them and hung it by it's feet from a tree...
the crows didn't come back...what was really interesting though, is that after the crow had rotted or been carried away, for years after, the crows did not come back. Their children did not come back, and the children's children only had to see my dad coming down towards the garden with a gun to flee for a few more generations...
Crows have intricate family structures, and apparently story telling.... -
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CommentAuthorLabyrinthine
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
OMG. that is awesome.
...but if you ever see a crow teaming up with an octopus we're all fucked. -
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CommentAuthorVal A Lindsay II
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
Crows can be malicious bastards, though. I knew of a guy in Santa Fe that nursed injured wildlife back to health who had a crow. The animal would chase the other animals about using a cigarette with a lit cherry.
Macaws get to the intelligence roughly of a 2 year old child. I've researched if crows/ravens had been measured in such a way, but nothing has come of it. -
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- CommentAuthoricelandbob
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009 edited
when i was growing up in shetland, we were told to avoid certain hills for fear of.... THE BONXIE!! (aka the great skua)
the reason for this is that when they nested in the hills, they were VERY protective of their nesting area and would attack anything that came near it. you don´t believe me? Well try this...
Bonxies attack Gannet
Bonxie Versus Sheep -
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CommentAuthorBrendan McGinley
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
I had a fishing guide in Meath whose brother had rescued a raven as a kid. In addition to the usual theft of shiny objects, the thing would pester them to turn over rocks, and if there was no grub underneath, blame them with a nasty peck.
The thing with African Greys is some actually know how to use language, putting familiar words together to make new concepts. Pretty weird when you get down to it. -
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CommentAuthormister hex
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
Isn't it cute when humans think they're smarter than animals? -
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CommentAuthorRootfireember
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
There's a local african gray at the petstore. He gives the younger girls all sorts of trouble because they're afraid of him.
I tell him to cut his crap out and behave, and he usually does nicely. We whistle back and forth at eachother while I'm shopping for stuff for my cats. It's fun. -
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CommentAuthorVal A Lindsay II
- CommentTimeMay 26th 2009
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Please, let it not be shown that CHIKKUNS have this sort of intelligence. Because I've been defending my meat-eating recently on the basis that chickens are dumb as shit and lower than bugs; pretty much on the same intellectual plane as shrimp.
Although I'd really still eat them anyhow. -
Chickens are intelligent, social animals with complex emotional lives. If you're looking for dumb meat you're pretty much stuck with amphibians and invertebrates. Frogs is stuuuuuupid.
That being said, if God hadn't meant for us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them meaty and delicious. -
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CommentAuthorBrendan McGinley
- CommentTimeMay 27th 2009
Here's why it's ok to eat any bird that can't do tricks:
Need a stronger reason?
I'm adding Golden Eagle to that list. -
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- CommentAuthorJames Puckett
- CommentTimeMay 27th 2009
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CommentAuthorRyan S Thomason
- CommentTimeMay 27th 2009
- Iceland Bob,
the video misses the bit where the bonxie uses it's laser vision to roast that sheep. I seen it happen!
Where in Shetland did you grow up? (Former Unst boy myself) -
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@Mr Hex I totally believe that we aren't the most intelligent species here...I'd say something like the larger whales might top us...but we were fidgety little apes who have to tinker and change things around them,for our own betterment (is that a word? )...
wooo...look where all our brains have gotten us. We're just smart enough to fuck things up, but too dumb to know that we'll have to fix things later...(i think we might be getting the idea now though...maybe...we'll see...)
Anyway...um..yeah, I love critters. I could watch a bug for hours...I'm weird like that...but I also love the diversity of life...and I also love taking those parts and making monsters with them..
rarr...
