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Renowned for their intelligence, crows can mimic human speech, use tools and gather for what seem to be funeral rites when a member of their murder, as groups of crows are known, dies or is killed. They can identify and remember faces, even among large crowds.

They also tenaciously hold grudges. When a murder of crows singles out a person as dangerous, its wrath can be alarming, and can be passed along beyond an individual crow’s life span of up to a dozen or so years, creating multigenerational grudges.

Attacks by aggrieved crows can become the stuff of horror films, with lives being seemingly transformed into the Hitchcockian nightmare of “The Birds.”

. . .

How long do crows hold a grudge? Dr. Marzluff believes he has now answered the question: around 17 years.

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  • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
    1·
    17 days ago

    Priceless:

    A decade ago, Jill Bennett, a radio host in Vancouver, was relentlessly attacked by crows as she was walking her dog. She escaped by ducking into a parking garage.

    “I had never done anything mean or violent toward the crows,” Ms. Bennett said.

    When it happened again, Ms. Bennett began keeping kibble and peanuts in her purse, dispensing the snacks as she took her walks.

    A pair of crows took to following her, a sort of protective entourage.

    When a third crow with distinctive feathering divebombed Ms. Bennett this past summer, the entourage went on the offensive, chasing away the interloping crow.

    Ms. Bennett compares her crow feeding to a mafia-style shakedown. It’s protection money, she says, the price of knowing you will not be attacked from the sky.

    “I call it the crow tax,” she said.