(Dateline: Anchorage, Alaska)
“Some Alaska Costco shoppers said they’ve had their groceries stolen by ravens in the store parking lot.
“Matt Lewallen said he was packing his groceries into his car in the parking lot of an Anchorage Costco when ravens swooped in to steal a short rib from his cart, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.
“'I literally took 10 steps away and turned around, two ravens came down and instantly grabbed one out of the package, ripped it off and flew off with it,' Lewallen said.
Lewallen said the piece of meat was about 4-by-7 inches (10-by-18 centimeters) large – a sizable meal for a sizable bird.
“'They know what they’re doing; it’s not their first time,' Lewallen said. 'They’re very fat so I think they’ve got a whole system there.'”
(“Some Alaska Costco shoppers say ravens steal their groceries.” Anchorage Daily News. AP. March 27, 2021.)
Additional raven thief sightings have emerged on social media, For example, Anchorage resident Tamara Josey referred to the ravens as “calculating.” She said ravens hovered her in an attempt to steal her groceries. Josey said …
“I had two ravens, one that was on the car next to me and he kept squawking really loud. He would sit on the car and stare at me, then hop next to the bed of the truck on the other side, and he kept going back and forth. The other raven was on the ground. He kept trying to pull – I had those little mini-melons you have in the mesh baggies – he kept trying to grab the netting and pull my melons off the cart.”
(“Some Alaska Costco shoppers say ravens steal their groceries.” Anchorage Daily News. AP. March 27, 2021.)
Raven robbers stealing groceries – these birds often work together to accomplish difficult tasks. Did you know the truth? Ravens are highly social birds and their interactions can be quite complex, according to Thomas Bugnyar, a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna. And, these dark-wing high flyers are much more clever than most people think.
The intriguing common raven has accompanied people around the Northern Hemisphere for thousands of years, following their wagons, sleds, sleighs, and hunting parties in hopes of a quick meal. Ravens are among the smartest of all birds, gaining a reputation for solving ever more complicated problems invented by ever more creative scientists. Their problem-solving, decision-making, and remembering past experiences are traits that scientists recognize as highly developed.
Not Just a Bird-Brain
The brain of the common raven is among the largest of any bird species. Specifically, their hyperpallium is large for a bird. Ravens are even believed to have insight. Researchers at the University of Vienna, in Austria, led by Thomas Bugnyar reported in the journal Nature Communication (2016) that, in other words, a raven can infer what another animal might be thinking. Bugnyar says …
“This shows that traits that we consider ‘uniquely human’ may be found in animals too.”
(Thomas Bugnyar, Stephan A. Reber & Cameron Buckner. “Ravens attribute visual access to unseen competitors.” Nature Communication. February 2016.)
Scientists at Lund University in Sweden (2017) found ravens will often choose to forgo a tasty morsel now in favor of getting access to a better treat later. Faced with a food tidbit and a tool that they know can open a box containing more tempting food, they will generally choose the tool – even if they don’t have the box yet.
They’ve learned that when researchers present them with the box in 15 minute’s time, they can use that tool to unlock their prize. That’s forethought right there. Even small children often choose to eat one marshmallow immediately rather than wait a few minutes for more marshmallows, and all that experiment makes the participants do is sit there being cute.
(Can Kabadayi and Mathias Osvath. “Ravens parallel great apes in flexible planning for tool-use and bartering.” Science, July 14, 2017.)
A new study (2020) provides some of the best proof yet that ravens, including young birds of just four months of age, have certain types of intelligence that are on par with those of adult great apes. The brainy birds performed just as well as chimpanzees and orangutans across a broad array of tasks designed to measure intelligence.
Simone Pika, cognitive scientist at Osnabrück University in Germany and author of the study reports …
“We now have very strong evidence to say that, at least in the tasks we used, ravens are very similar to great apes. Across a whole spectrum of cognitive skills, their intelligence is really quite amazing.”
The findings, published in Scientific Reports, add to a growing body of evidence indicating that impressive cognitive skills are not solely the domain of primates but occur in certain species across the animal kingdom.
(Simone Pika et al. Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills.” Scientific Reports. December 2020.)
“Crows, ravens, magpies, and jays are not just feathered machines, rigidly programmed by their genetics. Instead, they are beings that, within the constraints of their molecular inheritance, make complex decisions and show every sign of enjoying a rich awareness.”
– Candace Savage, PBS “Nature”
A Mythic Species
In Greek mythology, ravens are associated with Apollo, the god of prophecy. They are said to be a symbol of bad luck, and were the god's messengers in the mortal world. According to the mythological narration, Apollo sent a white raven, or crow in some versions to spy on his lover, Coronis. When the raven brought back the news that Coronis had been unfaithful to him, Apollo scorched the raven in his fury, turning the animal's feathers black. That's why all ravens are black today.
The raven (Hebrew:עורב ; Koine Greek: κόραξ) is the first species of bird to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and ravens are mentioned on numerous occasions thereafter. In the Book of Genesis, Noah releases a raven from the ark after the great flood to test whether the waters have receded (Gen. 8:6-7). According to the Law of Moses, ravens are forbidden for food (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14), a fact that may have colored the perception of ravens in later sources.
In Norse mythology, two ravens named Huginn and Munnin – "Thought" and "Memory" – employ their intelligent faculties as Odin's emissaries, acting as the god's eyes and ears on Earth and reporting back to him about whatever they observe. Even in common ravens,
Additionally among the Norse, raven banner standards were carried by such figures as the Jarls of Orkney; King Cnut the Great of England, Norway and Denmark; and Harald Hardrada.
In the British Isles, ravens also were symbolic to the Celts. Ravens figured heavily in Celtic mythology and legend and are linked to darkness and death – especially the death of warriors in battle. In Irish mythology, the goddess Morrígan alighted on the hero Cú Chulainn's shoulder in the form of a raven after his death.
In Welsh mythology they were associated with the Welsh god Bran the Blessed, whose name translates to "raven." According to the Mabinogion, Bran's head was buried in the White Hill of London as a talisman against invasion. However, King Arthur dug up the head, declaring the country would be protected only by his great strength.
There have been attempts in modern times to link the still-current practice of keeping ravens at the Tower of London under the care of Yeomen Warder Ravenmaster with this story of Brân, whose name means crow (cigfran means Raven).
(“The Death of Cu Chulainn.” Celtic Literature Collective. http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cuchulain3.html.)
According to legend, the Kingdom of England will fall if the ravens of the Tower of London are removed. It had been thought that there have been at least six ravens in residence at the tower for centuries. It was said that Charles II ordered their removal following complaints from John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer. However, they were not removed because Charles was then told of the legend. Charles, following the time of the English Civil War, superstition or not, was not prepared to take the chance, and instead had the observatory moved to Greenwich.
(“The Tower of London.” aboutbritain.com. 1999-2021.)
"The Three Ravens" (Child 26, Roud 5) is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611. The ballad takes the form of three scavenger birds conversing about where and what they should eat.
One bird tells of a newly slain knight, but they find he is guarded by his loyal hawks and hounds. Furthermore, a "fallow doe,” an obvious metaphor for the knight's pregnant ("as great with young as she might go") lover or mistress (see "leman") comes to his body, kisses his wounds, bears him away, and buries him, leaving the ravens without a meal. The narrative ends with "God send euery gentleman / Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman.”
The Three Ravens
There were three rauens sat on a tree,
downe a downe, hay downe, hay downe,
There were three rauens sat on a tree,
with a downe,
There were three rauens sat on a tree,
They were as blacke as they might be.
With a downe, derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe.
The one of them said to his mate,
Where shall we our breakfast take?
Downe in yonder greene field,
There lies a Knight slain under his shield,
His hounds they lie downe at his feete,
So well they can their Master keepe,
His Hawkes they flie so eagerly,
There's no fowle dare him come nie
Downe there comes a fallow Doe,
As great with yong as she might goe,
She lift up his bloudy head,
And kist his wounds that were so red,
She got him up upon her backe,
And carried him to earthen lake,
She buried him before the prime,
She was dead her self ere euen-song time.
God send euery gentleman,
Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman.
Very Intelligent Behaviors
Common ravens have been observed calling wolves to the site of dead animals. The wolves open the carcass, leaving the scraps more accessible to the birds.
They also watch where other common ravens bury their food and remember the locations of each other's food caches, so they can steal from them. This type of theft occurs so regularly that common ravens will fly extra distances from a food source to find better hiding places for food. They have also been observed pretending to make a cache without actually depositing the food, presumably to confuse onlookers.
(John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell. In the Company of Crows and Ravens. 2005).)
Common ravens are known to steal and cache shiny objects such as pebbles, pieces of metal, and golf balls. One theory is that they hoard shiny objects to impress other ravens. Other research indicates that juveniles are deeply curious about all new things, and that common ravens retain an attraction to bright, round objects based on their similarity to bird eggs. Mature birds lose their intense interest in the unusual, and become highly neophobic (fearing anything new).
Wrapping It Up
It's disconcerting and even a little frightening that large, extremely intelligent birds are showing up in the parking lots of supermarkets intent on our stealing groceries. Yet, maybe we should have known the far-reaching abilities of such creatures in the first place and act to take necessary precautions to guard our foodstuffs. After all, ravens have a long history with humans and the reputation for trouble to boot.
Animals continue to amaze us with their diverse and powerful intelligence although we largely ignore the limits of their “smarts.” Who is in need of a lesson, us or them? Those folks up in Anchorage can surely tip their hats to some sly, bird-brain robbers in their successful assaults from the air.
"The Twa Corbies", Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Some British Ballads
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