Venue/Location: Mission Theater, 1624 N.W. Glisan St., Phone: (503) 224-0166
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 7:00 PM
Friends or Foes? Facing the Facts about American Crows
Mission Theater & Pub
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Doors open at 5:00pm.
Science Pub is open to ages 21+, or minor with adult.
$3 suggested cover charge, No RSVP or tickets required.
Come get flocked up with a crow expert to hear about some amazing new findings in crow behavior. Crows and the rest of the corvids (e.g., ravens, magpies, and jays) are famous for their intelligence and for their capacity to flourish in the company of humans and their homes, farms, and parks. Their success around people may be associated with some extraordinary cross-species social skills.
Scientists and observant naturalists who study crows and ravens often end up believing that the birds are able to identify them as an individual person, but it was not until the last few years that anyone actually tested the birds’ abilities. Researchers in Seattle and Salem, where rapid suburban (human) growth has promoted population growth of crows, researchers from the University of Washington and Willamette University have found that the American Crows can distinguish individual human faces from those in a crowd.
Come find out how the studies were done and what conclusions can be drawn about crow behavior and development. The ability to recognize us probably gives crows and their kin an evolutionary edge in the modern world—a world with more people’s faces and more habitat changes than at any other time in history. Everyone has a crow story.
Dr. David P. Craig is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Biology at Willamette University. He has more than a dozen publications, a diverse record of grants, and teaches animal behavior, ecology, and general biology.