Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

John Marzluff, Tony Angell

Free Press, Jun 5, 2012 - Nature - 304 pages

CROWS ARE MISCHIEVOUS, playful, social, and passionate. They have brains that are huge for their body size and exhibit an avian kind of eloquence. They mate for life and associate with relatives and neighbors for years. And because they often live near peoplein our gardens, parks, and citiesthey are also keenly aware of our peculiarities, staying away from and even scolding anyone who threatens or harms them and quickly learning to recognize and approach those who care for and feed them, even giving them numerous, oddly touching gifts in return.

With his extraordinary research on the intelligence and startling abilities of corvidscrows, ravens, and jaysscientist John Marzluff teams up with artist-naturalist Tony Angell to tell amazing stories of these brilliant birds in Gifts of the Crow. With narrative, diagrams, and gorgeous line drawings, they offer an in-depth look at these complex creatures and our shared behaviors. The ongoing connection between humans and crowsa cultural coevolutionhas shaped both species for millions of years. And the characteristics of crows that allow this symbiotic relationship are language, delinquency, frolic, passion, wrath, risk-taking, and awarenessseven traits that humans find strangely familiar. Crows gather around their dead, warn of impending doom, recognize people, commit murder of other crows, lure fish and birds to their death, swill coffee, drink beer, turn on lights to stay warm, design and use tools, use cars as nutcrackers, windsurf and sled to play, and work in tandem to spray soft cheese out of a can. Their marvelous brains allow them to think, plan, and reconsider their actions.

With its abundance of funny, awe-inspiring, and poignant stories, Gifts of the Crow portrays creatures who are nothing short of amazing. A testament to years of painstaking research and careful observation, this fully illustrated, riveting work is a thrilling look at one of natures most wondrous creatures.

What people are saying

Review: Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

User Review  - Eleanor Lux - Goodreads

I read this book on my Kindle so the pictures were not too clear and I hadn't expected all the serious scientific information so I sometimes scanned a few pages but what I did read I loved and love knowing more about crows

Review: Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

User Review  - Joyce - Goodreads

Whenever you see a crow or raven in the movies, you know some drama is about to go down -- but apparently that can be true in daily life too. Corvids like to play, give gifts, recognize death, murder ...

About the author

John Marzluff, Ph.D., is Professor of Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. The author of four books and over one hundred scientific papers on various aspects of bird behavior, he is the recipient of the A. Brazier Howell, Board of Directors, and H.R. Painton awards from the Cooper Ornithological Society.

Tony Angell has authored and/or illustrated a dozen award-winning books related to natural history.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans
• Authors: John Marzluff, Tony Angell
• Publisher: Free Press, 2012
• ISBN: 1439198756, 9781439198759
• Length: 304 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Animals / Birds; Nature / Birdwatching Guides; Nature / General; Science / Life Sciences / Zoology / Ornithology