What other motivation could these corvid bullies have than to taunt two cats into fighting as displacement behavior?
Crows gone wrong
March 21, 2011 • 4:23 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Every now and then a crow would get the bright idea to dive down and annoy our (now dead) old cat.
It usually ended by him catching them mid air. Sometimes he would bring home a buzzard.
He was amazing.
An older cat I had ,Ivy did the same with magpies. She’d lure them in until she caught one. Brought one into the house that wasn’t quit dead yet and released it. Then the fun would begin!
Those crows were simply pissed off that people let their cats outside to kill the local fauna.
That, and probably bored.
I agree with you Sven!
“All Rome has been told that they will fight tomorrow in the temple of your ancestors.”
“They will fight here, now! For me!”
/Spartacus.
1/ Stotting. The crows are proving their fitness to each other by baiting the cat when it is distracted.
2/ Corvids are very intelligent (like gulls I think) & can recognise individual people, so that distinctive cat may have a history with them – as it is already distracted by the black cat it cannot deal with the crows as it might otherwise. Recall this article from last year?
http://tinyurl.com/5so3rqr
@SA Wells, I was thinking similar thoughts. As the famous crow historian once noted, crows can be kept content by “yummy (cawww) eggs and cat circuses”.
On a walk around a lagoon, I saw a crow carry some mussels onto a large rock out in the bay and then land on a branch which overhung the rock. I was puzzled by what was going on so I waited and watched. A sea gull saw the tasty mussels and flew down to try to nab them when the crow launched itself at the gull, pecking at its tail feathers and chased it for half a minute while the gull flew away in a panic.
Then the crow readjusted the mussels and went back to the tree where it repeated the whole procedure when another gull came by.
They may be smart but crows can be real dicks.
Perhaps the first cat had earlier done damage to the crows’ nest or harmed their eggs or young or somehow otherwise grievously pissed the crows off and they badly want revenge and plan on harassing the cat to death.
And then along came the black cat, who as it happens is a friend of the crows (notice that the crows do not try to antagonize the black cat at all); after observing for a while that the angry crows are a tad too nervous to really inflict satisfying revenge on the first cat the black cat decides to jump in and help the crows out.
Or perhaps not — I dunno for sure of course, but that seems a plausible back-story to me .
That Russell, such a tease
Any information on where that video was filmed? Those were hooded crows (Corvus cornix), so it must have been somewhere in Europe…
@ Frank– that’s what I thought, that those crows had had dealings with the white cat before and remembered it. If they can remember individual human faces well, it seems likely that they can remember individuals of other species as well. It seemed to me though, that they goaded (?) the white cat into a position of submission near the black cat, who then attacked because of the posture displayed by the white cat (does that make sense?) But, without question, the cat fight was apparently started by the crows.
You are back! Hope all is well…
As you say, hooded crows (‘hoodies’ are what we in the UK call youths who wear those hooded sweatshirts) mean it could have been anywhere from Ireland, west/north Britain or Scotland, or northern/eastern Europe.
Thanks, Dominic! More or less back– getting over a fever and swollen throat, plus blackout schedules that make posting difficult. The blackouts have messed up our wireless a couple of times, making it impossible to get online. Not complaining, though–too many people in truly dire circumstances for that. (Did get a new post up today, though…finally!)
Which us Ghadafi and which are the civilians and which is the international coalition?
Which IS…
Heckle & Jeckle pulled that kind of stuff all the time.
It does make you wonder why they are all ganging up on the bi-color.
This is from http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/04/just_how_smart_are_ravens.php:
Juvenile birds learn these things early in life by interacting with the predators through testing their reactions. Juvenile ravens often will land nearby and nip them from behind. This so-called risky “play activity” is dangerous but ultimately aids in the birds’ survival by providing information about the capabilities of various predators. By deliberately provoking them, ravens learn which animals they can trust and how far away they must stay to remain safe.
Similar to what Bernd Heinrich say in his book “Mind of the Raven”.
Exactly. I don’t want to labour the point but I am a fan of Zahavi –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle
Do you remember where in “Mind of the Raven”– I’m reading that now! Thanks:-)
Sorry, it’s been several years since I read it and it’s packed away since the big move.
Shoganai– but thanks:-)) I’ll get to it eventually myself.
Could be jackdaws (Corvus monedula) too. I think it means crows are not only smart enough to fashion and use tools, but also enjoy watching sports.
This is the jackdaws’ version of boxing or cage fighting.
They are crows. Grey crows they’re called in Denmark. More often seen than the “traditional” black crow.
Definitely not jackdaws.
Jackdaws would have more reprinted articles and fold-out maps and other fun stuff…
There was a long discussion about this at Tetrapod Zoology a few months ago: http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/11/epic_cat_fight.php
The version of the YouTube video posted there claims to be the original.
Wrong venue – should habe been on a biped page!
😉
Headline: cats PWN’D by birdbrains!!!
Everybody knows that crows are smarter and better than cats! And who isn’t excited by a good catfight?
I was actually pretty impressed by the cats’ reflexes, speed, and apparent skill. I doubt that humans would be anywhere near as proficient without special training. I hope they weren’t hurt, though.
Was just watching our local crows picking up nesting material today–3 adults together (one gathering material, the other two as companions). I’m thinking one is one of last year’s juveniles playing the helper role this year…
This taxon is endlessly fascinating.
I don’t approve of anyone videotaping while someone is getting hurt. He/She should have intervened.
And don’t give me any of that “natural behaviors” crap. All animals should be helped by humans. Eventually, all animals will have to be domesticated if they are to survive on this planet with way too many humans.
Animals could probably do with a lot less of our “help”.
Perhaps the first animal to be domesticated should be Homo sapiens sapiens.
We already are domesticated… (fire? How do you make that again?)…I totally stand at the stove in my bare feet;-))
when people ask me, “why do you like crows?” i’ll just silently whip this out.
There’s nothing interesting to see here. Just a couple of stupid crows betting on cat fighting. Humans do the same with roosters and dogs. You’ll be glad to know that cat fighting is now illegal in all 50 states, and that these two crows have been arrested.
Today I saw a crow sitting on the back of a horse digging stuff out of it’s mane. Horse looked like ‘What the F*** is that … hmmm feels OK to be groomed though’. But ended up shaking the crow off.
They are definitely ‘Hooded Crows’ (Corvus conix). We have them here in Sweden and I’ve seen them in the Isle of Skye. Fabulous birds.
1)summon a couple of lvl1 crows
2)some microcontrol
3)win
white cat is clearly no noob either tho
Basement Cat summons avian minions to strike down her enemies… but has to finish the job due to corvid incompetence