10 Fun Facts About the Common Raven

Although as soon as in sharp decline throughout a lot of their vary, immediately Frequent Ravens are a daily sight in all kinds of habitats, from the peaks of the Rockies to the roofs of Walmarts. They’re endlessly resourceful, discovering sustenance in roadkill, rubbish, small animals, and stolen eggs.

Whereas their affiliation with carrion has earned them a darkish popularity, there’s far more to those corvids, from their playfulness and intelligence to their significance throughout many cultures. 

1.) Frequent Ravens are among the many smartest of birds, with intelligence similar to that of apes. Experiments have proven they can drawback remedy, use instruments, plan ahead, and even maintain a grudge. Ravens raised in captivity can study to mimic human voices. (Sure, together with saying “nevermore.”)

2.) Ravens are sometimes confused with crows, however there’s one apparent distinction between the 2 birds: Frequent Ravens are big. Averaging round 2 ft in top, ravens are concerning the dimension of a Pink-tailed Hawk. American Crows are roughly two-thirds as huge. 

3.) Regardless of their deep, croaky name—one other good solution to distinguish them from crows and their caws, by the best way—ravens are technically considered songbirds. This is because of further muscle management they’ve round their syrinx, or voice field, and the truth that ravens study their calls and songs.

4.) Whereas Frequent Ravens are largely scavengers, they’re additionally opportunists that may prey on every thing from small mammals and birds to amphibians and reptiles. They’re even identified to cooperatively hunt in pairs, usually to raid seabird colonies. One raven will distract a hen defending its nest, whereas the opposite swoops in to grab up eggs or chicks.  

5.) By the early 1900s, the Frequent Raven had nearly gone extinct across the eastern United States attributable to clear-cutting, a decline in main meals sources just like the carrion of deer and elk, and purposeful searching and poisoning. The restoration of jap forests, repopulation of white-tailed deer, and conservation legal guidelines have helped them bounce again. The abundance of nesting constructions and meals scraps produced by their human neighbors additionally helped.

6.) Throughout the West, the place raven populations by no means plummeted like they did within the East, the birds have seen a inhabitants increase up to now a number of a long time. Within the Mojave Desert their numbers have elevated by greater than 700 p.c up to now 40 years, in line with the Breeding Hen Survey. This surge has led to requires raven administration, resembling eradicating human-made meals sources and constructions used for nesting, to manage populations and alleviate considerations over their predation of delicate species, resembling Greater Sage-Grouse and desert tortoise.

7.) Frequent Ravens are extremely expert aerialists, capable of do rolls and somersaults and even fly the wrong way up for greater than half a mile. They usually carry out such tips to indicate off to potential mates. Younger ravens play video games midair, dropping sticks, then diving to catch them. 

8.) Usually related to the creepy and macabre, ravens are literally affectionate and emotional birds. They mate for all times, and companions serenade one another with gentle coos for consolation. Like crows, in addition they have interaction in allopreening, grooming every others’ feathers as a solution to strengthen their bond.

9.) Frequent Ravens are among the many most widespread hen species within the Northern Hemisphere, ranging throughout all kinds of habitats and areas. Past North America, they are often discovered all through Arctic areas, components of Europe and Asia, and the mountains of Central America and North Africa. 

10.) Ravens seem in numerous myths and spiritual texts, with a variety of meanings, from prophetic to ominous. The Norse god Odin has two ravens serving as his eyes and ears: Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“reminiscence”). Greek legends affiliate ravens with Apollo, the god of prophecy. The Morrigan, Celtic goddess of warfare and loss of life, reveals up within the type of a raven. Ravens are additionally distinguished in Native American mythologies, the place they seem as each the creator of the world and a trickster.