Facts about Crows

1. Crows Have Shrewd Ways to Get Food

Crows tend to be opportunistic and creative, commonly exploiting new food sources or adopting new feeding strategies to make their lives easier. The American crow is known to catch its own fish, for example, in some cases even using bread or other food as bait to lure fish closer, as captured in the video below.

2. Crows Don't Just Use Tools; They Also Make Them

Many corvids use tools, but New Caledonian crows are especially advanced. Like chimps, they use sticks or other plant matter to fish insects out of crevices. That alone is impressive, especially without hands, but it's just one of many tricks up their sleeves. In addition to choosing tools that are naturally well-shaped for a particular task, New Caledonian crows also manufacture tools in the wild, which is much rarer than only using found objects.

3. Crows Can Solve Puzzles on Par with Human Kids

In Aesop's Fable "The Crow and the Pitcher," a thirsty crow encounters a pitcher with a little water but is initially thwarted by the low water level and the bottle's narrow neck. Then the crow drops pebbles into the pitcher and raises the water level high enough to drink. Not only has research verified that crows can do this, but it shows they can pass the water-displacement test at a level similar to human children between the ages of 5 and 7.

4. Crows Hold Funerals for Their Dead

Crows are famous for holding "funerals" when one of their kind has died. It might be a lone individual or a group of crows—known as a murder, of course—and it may be solemnly quiet or cacophonous. In some cases, the crows may keep a vigil over the fallen bird for days. Could they be mourning?