8-YO Seattle Girl Gets Gifts...from Crows ?!

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32. Read in Discover mag couple years ago about their ability to recognize faces

What’s the News: A few years ago scientists learned that American crows can recognize and remember human faces, particularly faces they associate with bad experiences. Now, new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that the birds can share that knowledge of dangerous humans with other crows.

How the Heck:

•Five years ago, zoologist John Marzluff and his research team at the University of Washington trapped, banded, and released 7–15 American crows at five different sites near Seattle. Before trapping the birds, the researchers donned different rubber masks specific to each site (a caveman face, for example). While the birds were caged, nearby crows circled the site and sounded alarm calls.

•The team then tested the crows’ reactions to the masks. Over the first two weeks, about 26 percent of the crows that the researchers encountered scolded—with a harsh, repeated kaw, accompanied by wing and tail flicking—the masked enemies. Groups of crows would sometimes mob the researchers as well, squawking and dive bombing them. When the researchers wore different, neutral masks, the crows normally did not react, suggesting that the tagged birds, as well as the birds that watched the tagging, remembered the “dangerous humans.”

•Over time, more crows joined in on scolding the masked researchers. In a little more than a year, over 30 percent of encountered crows reacted, and by three years, about 66 percent did. That percentage has continued to increase. Interestingly, the crows did not need repeated reminders of their enemies. “They hadn’t seen me for a year with the mask on and when I walked out of the office they immediately scolded me,” Marzluff told ABC.

More
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/06/30/grudge-holding-crows-pass-on-their-anger-to-family-and-friends/#.VPNZxng1jDR