Re: Interesting crow behaviour

[<gejd@concentric.net>]

Thank you.
    Although I do not subscribe to the notion that pack hunting among modern
theropods proves anything about deinonychus or other prehistoric theropods,
I do think that observations of bird behavior are useful in delineating the
range
of possible behaviors for dinosaurs.
    You might send a note about this to Dr. Kevin McGowan at kjm2@cornell.edu.
-Gus Derkits

Chris Lavers wrote:

> I don't know where this thread came from or what it's getting at, but one
> of my PhD students and I have just witnessed what we believe to be
> cooperative hunting by three crows (neither of us know whether this is
> unusual, but we found it fascinating). We watched the battle between the
> crows and a pair of magpies in the closed quadrangle of our department
> building for about half an hour. Two crows harried the magpies and drew
> them away from their nest while the third nipped in from a different
> direction to steal eggs. It was difficult to tell in all the confusion, but
> we definitely witnessed at least one "changeover" when stealer became decoy
> and decoy became stealer. All six eggs were eventually taken. Pack hunting
> theropods...
>
> Chris