Quake3World

Probably only available in the uk, but I'd recommend giving it a listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dttzf

Basically it's a 30 minute report on just how fucking smart these fucks are, their brains are a similar size in ratio with that of chimps and I'm sure you've seen videos on youtube of them stealing fish from overnight fishing holes and using tools, the lady goes and interviews various university folk doing cognitive experiments with them, there'a bit about how they track eye movements which is fascinating. When they're preparing and burying food for winter they'll often go back and re-hide their bounty if they know that other birds are watching them while they're burying it.

Anyway, I found this TED talk from a guy that's trained wild birds to use vending machines so they'll go round picking up change and deposit it in his machine as reward for food.



I want a pet Jackdaw even more now

I've seen the TED talk, but I'll have to give the audio clip a listen. I thought it was pretty cool, but a bit creepy. I see crows foraging on the highway on my way to/from work every day. In VT there's little traffic, so they have pretty much free reign to wander as they please. Without fail, they manage to hop out of the way of cars just in time to not be run over without needing to take flight.

Crows are awesome.

there is an alarmingly massive crow that frequents in the back yard. I don't think he likes me much, every time I go to the back yard he'll do his thing pretty loudly for 10 seconds or so and then fucks off. what an ass

Since i never did anything to him, he must be a moron.

Transient wrote:I've seen the TED talk, but I'll have to give the audio clip a listen. I thought it was pretty cool, but a bit creepy. I see crows foraging on the highway on my way to/from work every day. In VT there's little traffic, so they have pretty much free reign to wander as they please. Without fail, they manage to hop out of the way of cars just in time to not be run over without needing to take flight.

I've ran over a few.

Scourge wrote:My house ran over a few.

Fixed.

woah randy ffs, this is a nice thread about how clever crows are and you come in with all your rage and talk of avian homicide?

calm down man.

Scourge wrote:
I've ran over a few.

you're supposed to hit the brakes not the accelerator

Crows are dicks, I try and run over them whenever they land in front of my car. I've yet to catch any though :\

I have to admit, there were a couple occasions when I swerved to see if I could catch one that got too cocky. Never got one, though. Then I realized I'd have to clean crow off my grill, so why bother? Plus there's a bajillion of them out there and what did they really ever do to me?

Crows and their cousins are my favourite birds, i just love how clever the little shits are

And that's like, my favourite TED talk - i've shown it to many people You should totally try to build the vending machine phant, the blueprints are to be found on that dude's site if i recall (though a quick google yielded no results, sadly). I'll try to give the audio a listen later, but seeing as it's BBC it's probably set up so that dirty foreigners can't steal it or something.

Thread also seems like the right place to leave this:



Edit: no i can listen to it, awesome \0/

phantasmagoria wrote:woah randy ffs, this is a nice thread about how clever crows are and you come in with all your rage and talk of avian homicide?

calm down man.

They seem to just commit suicide. You sure you haven't been over here talking to the birds?

thats neat stuff phanta

i always think crows are getting personal with me when ive come in contact with them in the past

they were being right dickheads ey!

Change your name to Jack Daw.

Scourge wrote:

Transient wrote:I've seen the TED talk, but I'll have to give the audio clip a listen. I thought it was pretty cool, but a bit creepy. I see crows foraging on the highway on my way to/from work every day. In VT there's little traffic, so they have pretty much free reign to wander as they please. Without fail, they manage to hop out of the way of cars just in time to not be run over without needing to take flight.

I've ran over a few.

Road rage...

It shows how arrogant you are that you are surprised that animals are intelligent.

Captain Mazda wrote:

Scourge wrote:My house ran over a few.

Fixed.

i actually came close to coacoa out my nose a couple nights ago with that one!

DTS wrote:It shows how arrogant you are that you are surprised that animals are intelligent.

Whereas DTS has frequently observed animals smarter than he, all his life and has been humbled.