Re: Interesting crow behavior!

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 11:20 AM 6/13/99 -0400, you wrote:
>At this very instant, outside my window, a crow is wallowing in the short
>grass, dragging its body across the lawn so that its breast is contacting
>the ground.  At first I thought it was trying to cool itself off after a
>sprinkle of rain that just fell.  But this is what it is doing: there is
>an ant's nest just there.  It is dragging its body over the nest so that
>ants will crawl or get stuck in its feathers.  Then it stands up straight
>and pecks the ants off its belly!!  Tool use, indeed.  Inventiveness.
>Insectivory.  Stone the crows!

Interesting - the most recent issue of one of my science rags (I think it
was Scientific American) had an article on originality in animals.  It said
that crows and kin are among the most innovative of birds.

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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com