Read Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures With Wolf-Birds Online

Authors: Bernd Heinrich

Tags: #Science, #Reference, #bought-and-paid-for, #Non-Fiction

Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures With Wolf-Birds (34 page)

A much-discussed current idea that holds promise in understanding the evolution of consciousness is that the most challenging problem faced by individuals is dealing with their companions. The theory of “Machiavellian Intelligence,” or selection for social expertise, is the current front-runner as an explanation for the evolution of high intelligence in the hominid line. As the caching behavior suggests, the same rationale could apply to ravens.

The “gang of four” feeding amicably together
.

 
TWENTY-THREE
 
Morality, Tolerance, and Cooperation
 

A
S BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGISTS, WE
try to reveal rules of behavior as though we were discovering truths. In reality, the word “rule” as applied to animal behavior is a verbal shortcut. A “rule” means nothing more than a consistency of response. It is not adherence to dictum. Animals adhere no more to rules than we do by showing up at the beach when it’s 110 degrees but not when it’s 30 degrees. Rules are the sum of decisions made by individuals that are then exhibited by crowds, not vice versa. Rules are thus a
result
. They are the average behavior that we and many animals are programmed with, learn, or make up as we go along.

Animals exhibit consistency of response only where it serves their individual interest. The necessity for consistent response with respect to treatment of others is obvious among social animals, to whom others of their group are as much a part of the environment as is temperature and other factors. In social animals, it seems almost proper to talk
of rules in the sense of dictums, since certain responses are not only evolved but also sometimes enforced.

Whether or not an animal’s behavior is acceptable can depend on whether it is directed to members of its own social unit versus others. Sanctions and punishments are often applied by the group to enforce its “morals,” which are the reflections of its interests. In humans, morals are even used as a weapon, especially in the political and religious arenas, to help enforce the interests of specific groups or party lines. Through extensive work spanning many years, we have discovered some “rules” of raven behavior relating to groups. We have found, for example, that on average, vagrants disperse widely and individually, forming ad hoc gangs to overpower resident pairs who defend their food.

Groups of four to a dozen birds sometimes associate in what appear to be social partnerships. Goliath and Whitefeather even tolerated juvenile vagrants at a calf carcass near their nest site in winter. I’ve seen six to eight birds arriving suddenly at a bait when there was only a pair for weeks before. Do ravens have groups within which, as with other animals, enforced rules of behavior are observed? What rules of behavior apply? To find out, I needed an established group that could be observed for extended periods of time. Since the foursome of Goliath, Fuzz, Lefty, and Houdi had been kept together for months and had long since stopped fighting among themselves, they were an ideal group to observe.

 

Whitefeather, in the Maine aviary
.

 

 

Goliath preening Whitefeather while she holds her head still for him
.

 

 

Fuzz and Houdi, allopreening and bill-holding
.

 

 

Shed in the aviary where first wild pair (now nesting near Weld village) and then Goliath and Whitefeather nested. Goliath is perched just outside the aviary. Picture below shows the four (standing) young of Fuzz and Houdi, and the two younger young (reclining) of Goliath and Whitefeather
.

 

 

 

Matt and Munster, a pair of male siblings who bonded, built a nest, and who tried to mate and then had vicious fights (but they later made up)
.

 

 

The white nictitating eye membrane is used for communication and it also serves to protect the eye
.

 

 

Many of the raven’s feather bases are white. Note brown eye of this fully adult bird. (Baby’s eyes are blue.)

 

 

Two baby ravens about a week old, and two unhatched eggs
.

 

 

Regurgitated raven pellets look much like owl pellets. The indigestible remains of these pellets found under a raven roost contain fur, bones, eggshells, and insect exoskeletons
.

 

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