What are Ravens (Crow)?

Raven (Crows): Birds that wish for Victory

Ravens, due to their scavenging properties, often appear on the battlefield, accompany corpses, and accompany death. In human history, they are often referred to as birds of death, symbolizing unknown bad luck. As for the bird that prays for victory? 

You will understand at the end.

 

The raven: the bird that prays for victory, and loves to play

The raven, commonly known as the fat-headed bird, is an outstanding good fellow in the Corvus family. They are creatures of the Corvidae family under the order passerine. The whole body is pitch black as ink, and the straight beak is shiny with iron. There is God.

 

They are born with long and pointed neck feathers and collars, just like wearing a thick scarf; their tail feathers are layered obviously, especially when flying in the sky, the short rounded soft feathers cover the straight and extended strips of hard feathers, just like the fan in Zhuge Kongming's hand, with the relaxation of the wings, gently shake it to lift the air and drive the wind.

 

 

Adult ravens are about 59-69cm long and have wingspans of 115-130cm, which are a bit larger than the average bird of prey; they are the heaviest bird in the order passerine, and the heaviest individual weight recorded is 1.63 kg.

 

Ravens are found throughout the northern hemisphere, from North America to Eurasia, from the deserts of North Africa to the Pacific islands. You can see them no matter whether it is the sun-scorched earth, snow-covered frozen ground, or isolated islands surrounded by the sea. Active posture.

 

They have strong environmental adaptability-in higher and colder areas, such as the Himalayas and Greenland, ravens are larger in size and beaks, and their claws are sharper, which allows them to tear apart better Frozen prey fur. In hotter and lower regions, the size and beak of the raven shrink in proportion. This is an example of how species changes to adapt to environmental changes.

 

What is Black Raven?

Speaking of ravens, we have to mention their amazing reproduction ability. In the thousand years of coexistence with humans, they have been considered a disaster because of their large populations.

 

In Finland, from the middle of the 18th century to 1923, the government had been encouraging people to hunt ravens, and those who achieved good results could even get a bounty; in Alaska, raven populations grew wildly, even threatening the survival of other creatures.

 

In the Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States, human settlement and urban development have made landfills, sewage treatment plants, and artificial lakes the most stable source of food for ravens.

 

According to statistics, the local raven population has increased 16 times in 25 years-they will build nests and camps on the outer columns of double-storey houses, and even trees in parks and sidewalks have become their homes. For a moment, he saw black clouds pressing down on the city when he looked up, and crows were heard everywhere.

 

Dark clouds overwhelm the city, ravens are in trouble

The residents are troubled and disturbed, and this is still something. The point is that their rapid increase in numbers poses a huge threat to local wildlife, especially certain endangered wildlife.

 

In order to control the number of ravens, people formulated shooting and capture plans, and step by step reduced the rubbish exposed during reclamation operations, which has reduced the number of ravens a little bit.

 

Are Crows Good at Speculation?

As an omnivorous animal, the raven has carrion, insects, food residues, agricultural grains, berries, fruits and small animals, all of which are their dishes and belly.

 

In terms of foraging, ravens have two notable characteristics, they are good at speculation and ingenuity. These two characteristics reflect their ingenuity to a certain extent, and we will say the same next.

 

The characteristics of being good at speculation are mainly manifested in the diet of the ravens, and they will change accordingly depending on the region and the season.

 

Ravens will actively hunt voles or insects, and will hide excess food in places invisible to other ravens in case of emergency. The ravens that nest and build burrows on the side of the road will even eat the carcasses of animals crushed by vehicles.

 

In winter when food is scarce, they will quietly follow canids such as wolves and foxes until they reach their caves. 

When the wolves were out hunting and the defenses in the cave were weak, the ravens sneaked in quietly, took advantage of their unpreparedness to make a decisive move, and quickly escaped with carrion and other food.

 

Another feature, arrogance and arrogance, is inseparable from the raven's temperament of deceiving softness and fear of hardship-they will set up a big flag and write a letter: 

This mountain is mine, this tree is mine, I have to pass by, hey, stay and buy!

 

One of the unique hobbies of ravens is to forcibly snatch food from other weak animals, and they enjoy it. Small canines, mammals, and other birds (even raptors) have been bullied by ravens more or less.

A flock of ravens that dare to compete with eagles and birds of prey for food

 

Observation found that some raven flocks even snatch human prey. When human hunters shoot down the birds with a shotgun, the ravens rush like a cloud of lead, and some ravens deliberately yelled and hovered at low altitude to interfere with hunters and hounds. 

Some of them flew straight to the place where the bird lands, grabbing human prey with sharp claws, and then all the ravens scattered like a command.

 

Of course, the ravens are not blindly arrogant, they are well versed in the way of cooperation and win-win, and they really understand the meaning of trickery. 

Therefore, in front of the hard rotten flesh of the bird's beak and claws that cannot be stripped, they will call canines such as wild dogs or wolves, and share the food location with them with kindness. 

After these canines use their sharp teeth to tear apart the carrion, the raven will naturally share a big cup of soup.

 

Fun to imitate sound

Ravens are one of the smartest birds, and their wisdom is also reflected in their calls. The raven has a wide range of pronunciations, and most of the pronunciations have practical functions, allowing them to socialize with other individuals within the group.

 

When predators come, they will use their calls to sound an alarm to inform other members of the group of imminent danger.

When they compete with other animals for food and are at a disadvantage, they will call out and call friends to help it.

When their partners go out for too long, they may even feel lonely, and call them to return home as soon as possible by imitating their partners' calls.

How does crow sing?

Of course, they can also imitate human voices. After careful training, ravens can learn faster, speak more clearly than other birds, and can even circulate and be full of emotion.

 

The clever raven can also imitate many different sounds. These sounds are so strange and unbelievable. This is really interesting.

 

Imagine that when you are sitting in the office and looking bored at the computer screen, there is a huge screaming sound-it is the sound of the wing of an airplane!

 

You were shocked, thinking, "The big thing is not good! Is there a plane crash? 

My life is over...", while walking quickly to the transparent French window and looking out, only to find the opposite branch on the tree in twos and threes. Several black ravens stood.

 

They jumped happily and flexibly, moving around in a flash, expressing their sincere joy in the world and life-you are wondering, another wing roaring in the air. You suddenly realized that this huge sound was actually made by these little guys in front of you.

 

Haha, the ravens are so powerful, they can make sounds beyond your imagination, including: the sound of the wing of an airplane, the sound of a car siren, the click of a camera shutter, and many people together The sound of quarrels and fights.

Bird biologists are very interested in this. They have been trying with the ravens for many years, so that they have heard a lot of sounds, and they have indeed learned a lot of pronunciation.

 

But even so, they haven't hit the limit of how the ravens can learn the sound of environmental effects. Their future is really imaginative.

 

A playful and curious collector

Ravens are curious collectors. They are naturally unable to resist objects that are sleek and shiny; they will steal anything that satisfies the above description, round small stones, golf balls, metal rings, or even a single one. egg.

 

Once they see it right, the raven will do everything possible to get these things in their hands, watch them carefully and play with them, and then package them and store them, making them rare objects in their collection room.

The raven is one of the favorite birds to play. In winter with ice and snow, they will climb up and slide down on naturally formed snow slopes, which seems to be just for fun.

They will try to drill through the hollows between branches and branches in various flight positions and at different speeds.

They will also study Difficult and advanced aerobatics skills, such as upside-down somersaults, side-flying sharp turns, or low-altitude dives.

 

In addition to playing on their own, they occasionally interact with animals of other species. Ravens seem to be particularly fond of canines. 

They will play hide-and-seek games with wolves, dogs and other canines for more than ten minutes. There are also cases of domestic ravens serving as babysitters and feeding dogs.

 

In the same domestic environment, the raven will poke the dog's butt with its pointed beak when it has nothing to do, deliberately annoy the dog, and when it comes to chase, it will flap its wings and jump up and down happily. 

Think about it, everyone, chasing and fighting, isn't this the same way we played when we were young?

 

Take the move and watch me kill for a thousand years

Looking for novel ways to play is very tempting for young or mature individuals. They can train their ability to observe things while playing, and at the same time improve their ability to fly and avoid danger. For them, playing is not just seeking exciting entertainment, but also a way to learn and understand the world.

 

If curiosity and play are signposts on the journey, then they will definitely guide the raven to the land of wisdom.

 

The raven in myths and legends

In 1758, when Karl Linnaeus (the father of modern taxonomy) named this black elf, which jumped between the green branches and leaves and soared across the broad skyline, "The Raven", his thoughts must have been With two wings, he made a deep study of the myths and legends, classics, and anecdotes.

 

On the battlefield, at the execution stand, as long as there are human corpses, there will definitely be ravens fighting for the carrion of the corpse. 

In this way, the relationship between the raven and death is initially settled-the raven is The forerunner of death, where there is a raven, there is death. Therefore, they have become a kind of ominous omen that many people fear to avoid.

 

In Sweden, the hometown of Karl Linnaeus, the ravens were thought to be the ghosts of the slain; in Germany, they became the souls of the cursed people who could not escape the world.

 

In Norse mythology, there is a raven on each shoulder of the main god Odin. They have a Hugin and a Munin, which represent thought and memory respectively; they are the extended eyes and ears of Odin. 

You can watch and listen to all the secret things in the world-the insight and good news of the raven, symbolizing supreme wisdom.

 

In Western Europe, the raven became a symbol of the trinity of war, death, and power. In Celtic mythology, there is a goddess of war Morrigan. It is said that as long as there is war, you can see her figure. 

Morrigan will transform into a flock of ravens that cover the sky and the sun. They fly over the battlefield and declare death to the soldiers who are lucky to zero and are inferior to humans.

 

Morrigan fell in love with the violent, ruthless and reckless hero Cuchurin, who defied Morrigan's courtship; Moligan was willing to hold grudges, so she cursed Cuchurin and made the hero doomed to death on the battlefield. 

Later, Cú Chulainn was framed by an adulterer and ate poisonous dog meat. When he was weak, he suffered from the enemy's stomach and back. He finally tied himself to a stone pillar and died of regret. Morrigan was ecstatic about Cuchurin's death, and turned into a big gray raven and landed on his shoulders to show his victory.

 

To make a comment, the picture material above is hard to find. Just type in Kuchurin, and the entire webpage that pops up is Kuchurin from the "Fate" series.

Having said that, in addition to this, the raven often appears in literary works and popular novels-we can find it in the works of writers such as Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Tolkien, Allan Poe, Stephen King, etc. To the figure of the raven.

 

The raven is also the national bird of Bhutan and the official bird of the Yukon Territory. At the same time, the powerful National Football League, the Baltimore Ravens also use the Ravens as their team emblem. 

In the popular video game "StarCraft 2", the working machine of the human race is also named "Raven".

 

Birds wishing victory

In England, legends once said that as long as there are crows (ravens) on the Tower of London, England will survive from an extinction and will not be defeated by invaders; otherwise, it will face the desperate situation of ruin and ruin. 

Until now, the British government will still follow the legend and carefully raise some ravens in the Tower of London.

After a period of time, it will also cut off the feathers on the raven wings so that they cannot fly away.

 

 

Crow (Raven) at the Tower of London

Interestingly, this custom was introduced only during World War II, and there was no habit of raising ravens on the Tower of London before. 

Those who understand that period of history may understand how much pressure the British underwent during the surrender of France and the time when they faced the German Nazis across the sea-in this way, whether it is fabricated out of thin air, or taken out of context, it seems reasonable to infuse the belief of enduring hardships and victory in the act of raising ravens.

 

However, who could have expected that the raven, which seems to be accompanied by death and closely related to bad luck, has played such a positive role in the cruelest and most deadly war in human history?

 

Let me tell you, the raven is not only a bird of death, a bird of war, but also a bird of hope, a bird of hope for victory. They are like a lighthouse shining brightly in the distance when a ship in the sea is deep in the mist. 

Although it is far and small, the seafarers' hearts rekind their hope when they see it.

 

So you see, everything is positive and negative, and it is multi-faceted. When looking at things from one angle, the experience gained from this impression is inevitably too one-sided. 

The famous saying goes well, "Just as there is no absolute hope, there is no absolute despair in the world."

In this way, we may really hope that the readers can also love the raven from the bottom of their hearts.