Discovery News has given an interesting update on crows - that they have a brilliantly sharp memory. Crows remember distinct human faces for five years or more, especially if the person had threatened or attacked them.
It is not necessary that the crows who have been victimized keep the grudge, instead even crows in other areas get to learn about the dangerous people through socializing and studying behavior of crows in different areas.
John Marzluff - a professor at the University of Washington's School of Forest Resources and his colleagues conducted a study where they bagged, tagged and released 7-15 wild crows at different research sites around Seattle. Then the team wore special masks. Just as the crows were released the crows made harsh, agitated cries or scolds.
This scolding attracts other crows in near by areas and they join the mob. The team noticed that 2-15 crows hounded them for a 100 meters or less on the sky and sometimes even dived from the sky. As the team traveled to different areas with the same masks, they observed that crows in other areas also made those scolding sounds that the originally captured crows had made, which meant that the birds learn things from social interaction.
Marzluff and his team feel that if a crow survives to adulthood, it can live between 15-40 years in the wild. They might remember strong associations and human faces for their entire lives also. At least, the study shows that their memory lasts for a good five years or more.
According to Marzluff, crows are extremely smart birds and they can even learn to make tools, forecast future events and understand what other animals know. It is rare to find such smart behavior in every animal but crows have these exceptional qualities.
This is why I absolutely love watching and reading animal documentaries because animals amaze me all the time with their intelligence and rare behavior. Unlike, how many idiots assume that animals are dumb and crows are useless...it is rather interesting to study how smart they are on the contrary.
