Crow Funerals - They're a thing, really!
Crows are highly social birds displaying a range of distinct mourning behaviours upon encountering a deceased conspecific.
Crows are fascinating and highly intelligent birds.
They might not have the best reputation, because they are scavengers,
however, they deserve all the credit and respect for their
extraordinairy brains!
Crows can and do hold funerals for dead conspecifics. It does not matter
whether they were familiar with the dead individual or not. When crows
encounter a dead crow, they tend to emit
distress calls, which attract other crows. The flock of
crows then craws around the dead crow in a range of different ways.
Depending on the situation, the live crows will also touch or nudge the
dead crow. Crow funerals can last for several hours and crows have been
observed being more cautious in areas, where they found a dead crow for
multiple days
afterwards. Fun facts: Crows can remember you and if you'd like to get
on their good side, they like peanuts! This goes to show that these
birds are much more intelligent than we have previously assumed and
deserve to be treated well. ❤️
All this and much more information is available on
Ologies Podcast by Alie Ward.
Find out more about crows from Dr. Kaeli Swift!
Coded by
Karin Kappler