This possibly means that Ravens may be more intelligent than teenagers.
If I were a teenager, I would be Mortimerfied!!
(I still own both sets of short stories)
A conspiracy of ravens may be conspiring more than we ever thought, as researchers have discovered that the carrion-scoffing birds use their beaks to gesture and communicate. Raven croaking Raven croaking. Credit: Franco Atirador Previously, so-called deictic gestures – such as pointing to signify "look" and holding …
my dog uses deictic gestures all the time
if he wants food or water, he paws my chest while i'm slouched on the sofa
if he wants a toy from his box, he looks from it, to me, then back to the box, and then to me
if he wants to go out for a piss, he looks out the door and whines
and if he's desperate for a crap, he barks and pounces on my genitals, since he's worked out that's guaranteed to get me off the sofa regardless of what is on telly
I think scientists spend too long being smug and assuming they're so clever and not enough time paying attention to the world around them
When all the time they understand the meaning of 'deitic gestures', whilst have only a rough idea they gleaned from a sentence in a popular online journal.
Whilst others assume they get loads of grants just to carry out a two-year study, whilst ignoring things like lecturing/supervising students.
I find it astonishing that people/scientist can't believe other species can communicate effectively without a spoken language. Actually it's a pretty arrogant assumption. Pack animals communicate in order to survive and feed. Insects give off chemical scents and make movements that inform others in the hive/colony. Lions communicate while hunting. Whales and Dolphins sing and dance and even have sex for pleasure and not just to continue the species.
This shouldn't be a surprise at all... Hell even Marlin Perkins from Wild Kingdom back in the 60's understood this!
To believe that other species cannot communicate effectively just means we don't understand the language they are speaking.. or pure arrogance!
I heard that the Vikings took Ravens to sea with them. If the ship got lost they would let the Raven go and it would fly up a few hundred feet. If it could not see land it would return to the ship as, obviously, there was nowhere else to perch. If it did see land it flew towards it and they could steer in that direction.