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EVEN a murder of crows has a soft side. The birds will make up or seek comfort after a fight, whether it was with a friend or a stranger.
Crows belong to a group called corvids, known for their intelligence. They form long-lasting relationships with other members of their gang.
To find out how they form new relationships, Miriam Sima at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and her colleagues studied crows that were unfamiliar to each other. They wanted to see how the crows would react to scuffles between relative strangers.
The team kept carrion crows in a cage. When they put food in, the birds fought more when the food was limited. The food shortage caused tempers to flare.
If the crows were only mildly aggressive, the aggressor would often seek the victim out after the food was gone. It would sit close.
www.newscientist.com
Crows belong to a group called corvids, known for their intelligence. They form long-lasting relationships with other members of their gang.
To find out how they form new relationships, Miriam Sima at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and her colleagues studied crows that were unfamiliar to each other. They wanted to see how the crows would react to scuffles between relative strangers.
The team kept carrion crows in a cage. When they put food in, the birds fought more when the food was limited. The food shortage caused tempers to flare.
If the crows were only mildly aggressive, the aggressor would often seek the victim out after the food was gone. It would sit close.
After crows fight they touch and preen each other to make up
Carrion crows sometimes have violent squabbles over food, but afterwards the aggressor will often sit by the victim as if to console them and reconcile
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