back to article Ravens' secret sign code probed

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 …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    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)

    1. Wyrdness
      Linux

      Ravens are definitely more intelligent than teenagers. I submit that I have yet to hear a raven argue whether iOs or Android devices are better, or accuse each other of being fanbois.

      Penguin icon, as they're pretty cool birds too.

    2. Mips
      Childcatcher

      Why do you say "may"?

      Of course they are.

  2. Thomas 4

    Interesting

    So it's like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, with 3 twitches and a nod for "Timmy's fallen off a cliff" & 2 twitches and a croak for "Oh boy, free lunch!"

  3. IT Hack
    Big Brother

    Strictly for the birds

    Chickens. Seriously they know stuff about taking over...just look at their eyes...they know! Also certainly more of a danger than Pinkie and the Brain.

    Ravens are just the cannon fodder for the chickens.

    Oh yes indeed!

  4. Arrrggghh-otron

    More research that surprises no one but the researchers!

    As long as the research grants keep rolling in, right?

  5. jai

    other animals

    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

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Smug & assuming they're so clever?

      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.

  6. Zippy the Pinhead
    FAIL

    I find it astonishing

    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!

    1. laird cummings

      Especially since...

      ...Ravens have already been demonstrated to use patterns of calls to pass information between birds. Surely this should not have been news to researchers..?

  7. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    My budgie sometimes flies to me just to take a dump..or so it seems. Is that classed as an intelligent gesture?

    1. Luther Blissett

      No

      It would be classed either as an Act of God or a Call of Nature

  8. Stevie

    Wow.

    This changes *everything*.

    When asked how much longer I will consider the Raven a dumb bird I shall now reply...

    1. Ralph B
      Happy

      Nevermore?

  9. Stevie

    Bah!

    Pass me that false beak.

    Now: How do I say "stop crapping on my car or I'll be releasing the hungry Kestrel" in Raven?

    1. Mips
      Childcatcher

      It is no use sending a kestrel after a raven

      The send off everything including buzzards.

  10. Raumkraut
    Black Helicopters

    Conspiracy!

    The quoted scientist's "family" name is "Pika"?

    "Pica" is a genus of Corvidae; the family of avians to which Ravens belong!

    Coincidence? I DON'T THINK SO!

  11. Roger the Reven

    Roger the Raven

    Caw,

    Caw caw caw caw. Caw caw caw caw. Caw caw.

    Caw caw caw caw caw! Caw caw caw caw caw caw...caw.

    Caw,

    Roger

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We Welcome our Conspiring Avian Overlords

    ...

    as the only ones who can shit on Politicians from great height and get away with it...

  13. Mystic Megabyte

    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.

  14. EddieD
    Joke

    You have to wonder...

    If behavioural psychologists who study corvids ask "bred any good rooks lately?" when they meet at conferences.

    (With apologies to Rory Bremner from whom I nicked it...)

  15. pctechxp

    @ IT Hack

    Only one way to deal with the Chicken menace.

    Kill 'em, cook 'em, eat 'em with some veg, roast spuds, gravy and Yorkshire Pudding.

    I know its a bit random but we need a Yorkshire Pudding icon to complement the beer one,

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