Ravens Play with Wolves

yellowstone.org

38 points·kyleblarson··8 comments

The article doesn't mention it, but ravens also act as spotters for wolf packs, leading them to prey.

> These vocal birds make lots of noise when they find a dead animal, drawing attention to the carcass so that larger, more “tooled” scavengers can open up the hide and eventually provide food for the ravens.

you mean tracking live prey too?

I have a book by Bernd Heinrich, Mind of the Raven (1999), subtitled "Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-birds". He did research with ravens for years. I tried to find where he mentioned the behavior.

One thing he noted throughout his research was that ravens generally will not so much as touch a carcass unless and until they have spotted wolves, a bear, or eagle eating it. And, they would much rather harass an eagle and get it to drop what it has stripped off than to dig in themselves.

Raven: “Excuse me, waiter? Waiter!?”

Eagle: “‹looks around› …this is a buffet, and I don't work here.”

A less-cooperative relationship is a gibbon playing with tigers: https://youtu.be/SHXo-BpE8T8

(Remarkably, this activity appears to be characterized by bizarre sounds and music.)

I've seen this a bunch of times before; the sound effects still crack me up every time.

Those are the same sounds and music I once heard in an Indonesian rainforest. I finally understand... there must have been gibbons in the canopy.

I highly doubt that rainforest is a good environment for a psychedelics experience.

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