A Murder Of Crows

Ever wonder why a group of crows is called a 'murder'? Well, it could have something to do with their ability to use tools:

One species of crows is known for its clever use of tools, but a study now suggests that the birds' ability to put sticks to good use rivals that of bigger-brained primates.

The New Caledonian crows, native to the Loyalty Islands east of Australia, use sticks in the wild to fish ants out of nests. The new research shows the birds can also use common sense, not trial and error, in figuring out how to combine available tools to retrieve a snack.

"It was surprising to find that these 'bird-brained' creatures performed at the same levels as the best performances by great apes on such a difficult problem," said Russell Gray of the University of Auckland in New Zealand…….

……..The researchers placed a meaty snack in a hole too deep for the crows to reach—to get it, they needed to fish it out with a long stick, as is a natural behavior for them. Yet the long stick was also placed out of reach, leaving the birds with only a small stick to grab with their beaks.

"The creative thing the crows did was to use the short stick to get the long tool out of the box, so that they could then use the long stick to get the meat," said Alex Taylor, also of the University of Auckland.

You realize that these scientists are training the crows to use more elaborate - and potentially lethal - tools, don't you? How far is it from using a long stick to get a meaty snack to using, say, an icepick to make you a human snack? Hmmm? Don't think we're the only ones worried about it, either. Bruce Webster sent us this a few days ago. Zombie Crows are bad. Zombie crows with icepicks would be ever so much worse.

(Many thanks to Bruce for sending that along. I embedded the YouTube version here which runs a bit better at lower bandwidths)