From a "divine bird" to a "ferocious bird", what has the crow experienced over thousands of years?

What is a crow?

It is a well-known "bully" in the bird world. Even if the gangsters go out together, they can't make as much noise as it. They specialize in bullying bigger and more ferocious animals.

For example, pulling the tail hair.

Image source: Internet

For example, hitchhiking.

Image source: Internet

For example, taking advantage of someone's situation.

Image source: Internet

For example, using the majority to bully the minority.

Image source: Internet

The crow is no longer the talkative big black bird on the telephone pole outside your window. Your understanding of it officially begins from this moment on.

01

A fierce bird or a divine bird?

The crow was not originally a symbol of bad luck or misfortune, but a "divine bird".

In the pre-Qin period, the ancestors of the Manchus, the Sushen people, had the idea of ​​worshipping crows. In later generations, crows became the gods believed in by the Manchus and an important part of shamanism.

Image source: Internet

The most important part of the Manchu traditional ceremony of offering sacrifices to the sky is to erect a Solo pole and worship the crows. The shamans will also imitate the flying gait of the crows and perform sacrificial dances.

The image of a 7th-century painted relic box unearthed in August this year at the Subashi Buddhist Temple site in Kuche, Xinjiang, is a shamanic dance performed at the time. You can see many crow patterns on it.

A 7th-century wooden relic box lid unearthed from the Subashi Buddhist Temple in Kuche. Source: The Paper

In the Ussuri River basin in northeast my country, Soviet scholars discovered in 1955 that there were rubble with crow patterns on the site of an old Jin Dynasty earthen city.

In 1991, the 180th volume, No. 3 of National Geographic magazine published a report on the excavation of the Copan Sun Temple in the Yucatan Peninsula, which also featured extremely rare human-shaped Fusang and Yangwu patterns.

Therefore, it can be said that human beings’ belief in the worship of crows began in the ancient East, spread to the American continent with human migration, and had a profound impact.

A religious ritual in which people wear crow masks and dress up as crows. Source: Visual China

The crow totem is a typical cultural feature of North American Indians.

The Haida people in North America have crow patterns painted on their dance costumes. Among the North American Indians, crows are surreal creatures that call for thunder, lightning, wind and rain, bring good harvests and prosperity, defeat evil, and protect the people. Their image shows the character of the natural archetype.

Image source: Internet

In the traditional dance of the Indian tribes in North America, the sun dance, dancers still wear decorations and dress up as crows, singing and dancing. When the Haida people of the Indian tribe draw totem poles, they still use crows as the main pattern material.

Crow totem pole at Sitka National Historical Park Source: Visual China

Near Lake Titicoco, where Indians live, there are still remains of a group of megalithic buildings built more than 1,000 years ago. This group of megalithic buildings spans about 450 meters from north to south and 1,000 meters from east to west. Geometric figures carved from huge stones and square-headed dwarf gods are neatly arranged on both sides of the road.

The most magnificent building is the 3-meter-high and 4-meter-wide Sun Gate standing in the center. In the center of the lintel is a short statue of a god, and on both sides are statues of crows.

In architectural design, crows play a role similar to that of warriors, protecting and blessing humans.

In the 17th century, humans began the process of modernization, and "primitive inhabitants" of nature, such as crows, gradually became victims of the rumbling machines.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 marked the beginning of the crow's fall from the altar to martyrdom.

A fire in a bakery under London Bridge set off a week-long disaster that destroyed 13,000 homes. Crows flew down from the smoke-filled city in droves, pecking at the charred carcasses scattered across the streets—the crows’ scavenging nature was discovered by humans.

Paintings about the Great Fire of London Source: The Paper "350th Anniversary of the Great Fire of London: Why the British Believe the Arsonist is a Catholic"

Although to some extent it helped humans avoid an outbreak of plague, in the eyes of the grieving residents, these black, chirping, corpse-eating birds became hateful and ugly criminals.

At the end of the 17th century, a huge number of crows were hunted crazily by humans because they competed with humans for resources.

In 1754, the Pennsylvania State Assembly stipulated that each pioneer could obtain land on the border only if he hunted 12 crows; in Massachusetts, a dead crow could be exchanged for one shilling, equivalent to 6 dollars.

Stills from Hitchcock's film "The Birds" Source: Douban

However, the powerful reproductive ability has led to the increase of crows. Conflicts between crows and humans are also common in Hitchcock's films. Towering chimneys spew out thick black clouds, and the dark flocks of crows quickly pass through the sky between the cracks in steel and concrete.

Stills from Hitchcock's film "The Birds" Source: Douban

The crow has gone from being a sacred bird to a disgusting and vicious bird.

02

Smart but a little scary

"Calling the Seventh Patrol! Calling the Seventh Patrol! A little girl was attacked and injured in the face and arms. Motive for the attack: to steal lemon lollipops!"

This is the third such attack in six weeks.

There was a hoarse and piercing noise at four in the morning; garbage was pecked all over the ground, creating a mess; they even attacked the electric wires, causing a power outage in the entire block for seven hours.

Image source: Internet

This is not a movie, nor is it an urban legend. It is something that has happened in every neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan. They are all "good deeds" done by crows.

Although crows come from the wild, they have a very strong ability to adapt and live very comfortably in the city.

Image source: Internet

Not only did they snatch lollipops directly, they also plundered all kinds of food on the street. Every morning, they would do a real big sweep, turning Tokyo's busiest neighborhood into a big garbage dump...

Image source: Internet

You may wonder, how can a crow cause so much damage when it only has a beak and claws?

Here’s the kicker: Crows use tools.

For example, they can steal clothes hangers from the balcony and use their beaks to fold the hangers into the desired shape.

For example, someone recently said on a certain website:

Image source: Internet

Netizens were shocked by the crow's intelligence.

In 2005, Louis Lefebvre, a scientist at McGill University in Canada, summarized ornithological papers published in various countries over the past 75 years. He found that from 2,000 cases of bird feeding strategies and learning behaviors:

One of the most intelligent groups of birds is the Passeriformes family of corvids.

The best among them is the New Caledonian crow (Corvus moneduloides), which not only has a strong memory and a developed social network structure, but is also famous for its ability to use and make tools. It is also a species that scientists pay close attention to, and its IQ is comparable to that of many non-human primates.

Although the crow's brain is small, its brain capacity to body ratio is the largest among birds. An old crow over 5 years old has an intelligence level roughly equivalent to that of a 7-8 year old child.

In addition, crows are social animals with a lifespan of up to 15-20 years. In their social life, crows will communicate and learn from each other's survival experiences, and even pass on their wisdom to the next generation.

Even though Japan has set up crow traps and destroyed bird nests, the number of crows has not stopped growing. In Kagoshima City, crows have even played the "empty city tactic" with hunters.

Image source: Internet

Since they began cleaning the bird nests, the rangers have discovered that there are more and more empty crow nests, as if the crows intentionally built fake nests to lure away hunters, thus ensuring that their offspring thrive in the real nests.

Dalila Beauve, an expert on bird intelligence at the University of Paris Des Moines, was not very surprised. She said that birds are much smarter than we think and are able to reason, learn and remember to a certain extent. Crows, in particular, are even smarter.

Stills from Hitchcock's film "The Birds". Source: Internet

A study published in Science magazine showed that crows can prepare for a rainy day just like apes and humans.

The researchers initially trained the crows to use a tool to open a box, which gave them a reward, then removed the box and replaced it with the tool and several other different objects before finally returning to the box.

The researchers found that almost every crow chose the correct box-opening tool, and 15 minutes later, they used the tool to open the box with a success rate of 86%.

When offered a less-than-ideal food reward, a variety of unrelated objects, and a box-opening tool, the crows chose to hold the tool in their beaks and wait for the box to appear in order to get the better reward, which also shows their extraordinary self-control.

The scientists also conducted the experiment through a barter system, asking the crows to exchange a blue plastic bottle cap for a food reward. The subjects included five adult crows, three females and two males.

The researchers say the crows' ability to barter and plan ahead to use tools is similar to that of apes and is also common in humans.

Having seen how clever crows are, I will take a detour next time I meet them to avoid being bullied.

Source: China National Geographic BOOK

References:

[1] Huanqiu.com

[2] American Civilization, Jin Jichu, Beijing, Contemporary World Press, 1997;

[3] “The Relationship between North American and Northeast Asian Folk Culture from the Perspective of Crow Mythology” by Guo Meichen

[4] The Natural Code, The Magical Crow: A Rural Legend in Human History

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