Actually, this film is about the latest scientific research about crows, which is so revealing of their nature and aptitudes. It made me proud to think that early Hungarians were thought of as crows. The surname Corvin or Corwin is the Latinized version of the word crow, as in Mathias the Crow, the first King of Hungary.
Crows turn out to be one of the most intelligent animals alive3, smarter than dogs, and on par with apes!
They must be to survive because 50% of them don't make it to their second year of life, though they have been known to live up to 20 years. Crows live in family groups and sometimes parents have help feeding their young by brother and sister crows. These days many of them get hit by cars and are killed. Scientists believe that when a crow dies, its group holds a silent vigil for the departed! The crows mate for lie and raise their young for up to five years. This long period of time is thought to have aided in their mental development.
Crows recognize individual faces and inform their fellow crows if someone is a friend or enemy.
Scientist have proven that this information is transmitted to younger generations.
They are always watching and learning. They even memorize the garbage truck routes so that they will arrive in prime time to forage from the garbage bags!
Hawks are their natural enemy. Crows will remember a field where one of their members was attacked and avoid it for a couple years.
Perhaps most fascination was the way scientists have set up experiments to let crows prove themselves. One of these experiments shows that a crow not only uses tools but makes them and can think ahead to a third move in using tools to get a prize piece of food.
