NATURE | A Murder of Crows | The Crow and the Caveman | PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/introduction/5838/?...

In the first few minutes from "A Murder of Crows" we learn that crows are always watching, learning, and remembering.

Crows live everywhere in the world except Antarctica and are a part of myths and legends in many cultures. Their reputation in the stories varies from comical to frightening, godlike or wise, bringers of light and bringers of death, though a "murder" of crows refers to a flock of crows, and not to anything murderous, at all. They may be all these things, but what we are learning is that they are especially smart.

New research has shown that they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. They use tools as only elephants and chimpanzees do, and recognize 250 distinct calls. One particular talent they have been discovered to possess is the ability to recognize individual human faces and pick them out of a crowd up to two years later -- a trick that might make even Hitchcock shiver with fright.

"A Murder of Crows" airs on PBS Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 8pm and is part of the 29th season of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series produced by Thirteen in association with WNET.ORG for PBS. Major support provided by Canon U.S.A. Inc.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/introduction/5838/?...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• PBS
• Nature
• WNET
• crows
• birds
• John Marzluff

[Dwaldron89]

I really believe we underestimate the language and learning capacity of animals such as crows....perhaps in a decade or two we will be able to make a breakthrough equivalent to the Rosetta Stone for animals.

[HotForCooking]

I bet crows could be taught to find Bin Ladin.

[DanielRavenG]

Уёбки, ну или британтские ученые не?

[bluebanshee3]

@Dwaldron89 yes, i think a lot of animals have language also--or something like it. (crows have 247 distinct calls, so in a sense, they have language.) wolf calls are both consistent and complex, and i wonder if it's not a form of language also with distinct meanings to different howls.

cephalopods are really fascinating too---especially cuttlefish and octopus. researchers are just now looking into what those big brains are up to.

[sharmaine24]

@verticalsmurf humans like to think we are above it all

[verticalsmurf]

I don't understand why this is surprising.We are animals and we are smart. Why is it such a huge leap to think that other animals are smart?

[JesuscantergallopTB]

I love crows. I think they were saying, "Hey I know that's not his face, what do you think other crows?" heh heh.

[RivesAsunder]

That's fascinating.

Respect the crows.

[xxbluejay21]

@Dwaldron89 lol they just live, eat, sleep, and die

[janeeliseo]

It's just a fact that crows have a distinctive abilities.

[DarkReapersGrim]

I seen this episode of Nature earlier this morning, but I missed the part about why they scolded the researchers with the masks. Did they threaten them in some way that people without masks didn't and how?

[DieMetroDie]

@HotForCooking It was the crows.