What crows can teach us about death | Dr. Kaeli Swift | TEDxSalem
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- Опубликовано: 30 янв 2020
- Humans have paid attention to the behaviors of animals around their dead for centuries, but science has only recently given it more serious study. This talk explores what animals, particularly crows, do around their dead and what this might teach us about the evolution of our own behaviors. To learn more about Dr. Swifts research you can check out her blog corvidresearch.blog/ Kaeli received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2018, where she studied American crow thanatology. She is currently a lecturer in the UW's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences where she teaches ornithology, conservation, and wildlife ecology. You can read her popular science articles on her blog, corvidresearch.blog. You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at the @corvidresearch handle. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
Two days before our cat died 40 or more currawongs descended on our garden and spent their time playing games and swinging from the clothes line etc. We buried our cat in the front yard and the currawongs left en mass except for three. The next day we saw them standing guard over our cat's grave while on of them held a camellia flowed and plucked off the petals dropping them on the grave. They stayed another couple of days before they too left.
I was riding my bike to work and came across a dead crow on the road. I moved it of the road and put it under a nearby tree. When I looked up I noticed that the tree was full of crows and they were watching me intently. That night was a full moon and I woke up around midnight upon hearing what I thought was a really strong wind outside. I went outside and there must have been about 100 to 200 crows circling my house.....as soon as they saw me they all started calling at the same time. WTF.....
Perhaps they observed your kindness in moving the deceased crow to a more befitting place,or they were not well pleased with you. I would like to think the crows were impressed by your solemn kindness.
what we saw as kindness doesnt mean the crows saw it as kindness. @@Ihfmpw8
This is a story about family connections in ravens. At my old home, in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, I had a family of ravens (corvus mellori) living in my yard. The female would come a sit on our lap and pull my hair for attention. One day I found their child dead, hit by a car up the road. I put him peacefully away in some bushes. My mum found him later that day and with me being interested in taxidermy she brought him home an laid him on our front lawn. Before I even knew she was home I could hear the ravens making a fuss. I look out the window and both the mum and dad raven had watched her bring their baby home. If birds could scream and cry this was it. I watched them grieve over their babies dead body for hours. It was quite distressing. Eventually I removed the body. They still had one chick, but just as any human I knew they were continuing to grieve.
I suspect there would be hugely different results if dead crows that were known relatives were presented as opposed to a random stuffed ones. An unfamiliar dead crow would be seen as a learning curve, as opposed to a real family member that they would grieve.
This talk left us with more questions than answers. Not saying its a bad thing.
Purpose behind true teaching is to create exploratory paths opening to questions, not to give prescriptions.
My wife and I live in Australia. We had a number of families of crows in the area. A family with a cat moved in next door. The crows swooped the cat and called a threat call whenever it was outside. The owners of the cat responded by shooting at the crows. Soon they were also swooped and the crows made the same call when they were outside.
Stephanie Elizabeth Mann crows are killing native Australian birds taking over there homes!
Amazing story ...thanks
i heard aus are more smarter than rest of other crows in parts of the world .
ҳҲ̸Ҳ̸ҳ i heard there really smart
@@Bibibosh They are very smart. They can count. If three people walk into a yard and two walk away the crows know that one needs to be accounted for.
Itachi would be proud
Maybe the crows (once they land) can learn its mannequin crow and not actually their dead, the same way we know that "that mask" in your experiment is not a real face; but from 500ft+ its kind of hard to tell. Maybe you just created a new social experience for the crows and that's also why you're seeing abnormal behavior. I really enjoyed your experiment and always try to talk to crows as I walk by. I call them "little solar panels" and ask " were you the earliest one?"
We had to put one of our dogs down. We kept the other dog inside while we buried the dead one. Once done, we left our remaining dog out and were amazed at what she did! She went and got her favorite toy, a stuffed monkey and laid it in top of the dead dogs grave. She left it there for days. I even have the photo to this day of the toy on the soft mound of dirt.
Her episode on Corvid Thanatology on Ologies was so mind-blowing. I learned so much about crows and ravens. If you don't mind swearing, this is one of my favourites from the show.
Do you have a link by any chance?
I'm in trouble with a murder of crows. I started feeding peanuts to a pair of crows that lived in a nearby tree, but it got out of hand as up to 35+ crows would appear daily, and I was going broke, buying, and feeding them peanuts. Then my neighbors called my landlord and I was told to stop feeding them, or be evicted. I live on a long drive with a large prairie at the end of it, and when I got in my car the crows would follow me down the driveway, and so I started throwing peanuts out my car window at the end of the drive. Again it got out of hand and 35+ crows would all of a sudden show up by the time I got to the end of the drive. So I knew this might spark a few calls to my landlord, and seeing that I love where I live, I knew I had to stop this crazy obsession or get evicted. Now the crows watch my every move, and when I go for a walk a large contingent follow me and seem annoyed that I no longer feed them. I've even talked to the assembled crowd, a few times, and told them I can no longer feed them. But I doubt, as smart as they are, they understand what the heck I'm saying. So now I'm just seeing how long it might take for their obsession with me to quiet down, or if I'll be the victim of a massive pecking event similar to the movie "The Birds".
Hi,I think I can help!!😊
If you don't mind?!!
By giving less 'desirable' foods,and also becoming less 'predictable'to them...
They're Super-smart,and it is not often a 'Quick-fix'!!
If you would still like to assist your corvid friends,
go to a place,that will be considered 'neutral ground',away from home+ nosy neighbours,and feed at the exact time,and place,and Don't deviate from this!! (Or 1st step undone!)
I hope this helps,I rescue birds and other critters,and,this works for me,and others too.🦉.
Please let me know how you get on,many thanks!!🤗💐X
Namasté.X💝X.
ps,unbroken walnuts,are highly prized by them,so they'll spend time hiding them,trying to break them etc,,,so not such an easy meal as peanuts.😁Oh,and don't worry,they'll see you as the person who fed them,not,as the bad person,who stopped feeding rhem!!+"Lesleythebirdnerd",has some great RUclips uploads,well worth watching!!🤗💐💝X.
This comment may have not been intended as comedy, but is absolutely hysterical!
@@andreanottellin2129 Thanks Andrea but there's just too many crows to feed at this point, and being retired I do nothing that requires me to be at the exact place and time. I do feed the jays, by hiding peanuts in flower pots, hanging on my porch, and am familiar with Lesley's videos. Hey, you never know - I might end up buying some bulk walnuts...
@@steveduffy5784 Aw,bless you!!
I'm a retired veterinary nurse,and I still take in and rehab alsorts, I have grown very fond of our feathered friends!(It started at age 4yrs,with a jackdaw!!)
I worked farms,stables,and kept free-range hens,I'm sorry,I nearly started rambling!(Life-story etc,!)
I'm hoping you weren't offended in any way with my 'gratuitous'advice?!Or my daft sense of humour?!
I'm stuck at home,waiting for my wheelchair to get repaired,,,
I hope you can forgive me,if you did find me a bit 'full-on'?!
Boredom Is sending me Silly!
You are so lucky having jays about,I've only ever seen 2pairs,wild,in the UK.
Lesley the Bird Nerd,is great,😊,I think I've seen almost everything she's uploaded!🤗
Thank you for your kind reply,I really hope you were not cheesed off,by me...It is because I have seen the results of people's 'helping'wildlife~last spring a local woman brought round a woodpigeon squeaker,she'd been giving it porridge!!(+milk&sugar!)
It was encased in and befouled by this,+nearly starved!(I slowly rehydrated him,fed him sweetcorn,gave him a warm dry safe box.&bathed him next day.)
He survived,poor soul,it was a very close call though.😲
And on I ramble,sorry!!
I think I need to change my username,to,
" Bored Witless!"and put a warning next to it!!🤔
Namasté,and have a Beautiful week,🤗🦉❤🕊❤😊X.
@@andreanottellin2129 Bless you too Andrea - you didn't put me off - as I could tell you're a person with a kind heart - hope your wheel chair returns soon and you're rolling down the road once again.
Nature and it's complexity is so bizarre with how everything works and more importantly why it works the way it does. Great informative content!
In india in the morning if crow make sound out side the house we believe some guest will come....
In Kerala too! Nt only in morning..😂
Bt one more interesting thing is a special crow will come exactly on the day of 'balitharppanam' a ritual performed after some days of death
Two weeks to the day before my husband transitioned "beyond the veil" hundreds of crows were over our home.
The next morning we received a phone call from a Native American Shaman my husband had been working with - hundreds of miles away... he said the crow spirit has spoken - your husband is a high spirit and is being called home . . ."
Can you ask the shaman when I will be called home also?
Who's that shaman? I need him to know when's my time.
Crows along with a Native American women I only met once helped me start to heal after my husbands suicide ... it was amazing !!!
I legit thought she was Taylor Swift in the thumbnail.
Even I felt the same. who knows she might be really related to Taylor swift!!!
VERY MUCH INFORMATIVE,interesting
Crows made much action and noise around covered swimming pool until the crow that had somehow got in and drowned was placed on the ground outside. Another time a crow (jackdaw) had died after dangling from a net taken into their capped chimney nesting site and they did not nest there for a year. (The discovery of the entangled dead crow explained the noise they were making the day before)
Gifts of the Crow is a great book
Well, come to think about it, whatever someone wants to speculate, the simple fact remains that *_only the corpses buried were ever to be found!_* And there's ample knowledge of cultures who didn't behave in this way, but exposed their dead to natural elements...
Meanwhile there are crows out there having their own Ted talks about "how humans react to death" 😂😂😂
you are funny ,hahaaha
😂😂👍🏿
Brilliant comment!
This was a most fascinating Talk. I would be interested to hear what else you've learned since. Perhaps the crows instinctively felt compelled to breed among their dead to attempt to bolster their population. You are an excellent public speaker. Thank you for your Talk.
From the thumbnail she looked kinda like Taylor Swift's sister (Her last name is also Swift)
Seriously thought the same thing!
The whole reason I clicked on the video was to see if they're related 😂
Her hair, the last name and some facial features.
But she dresses like alessia cara
Its taylor swift from a different timeline where her passion was crows instead of singing
If you hang a dead crow on your chicken pen it puts the crows of for at least 3 to 4 days.
On another note, when I was in my late teens and my friends and I used to walk home from the shops through the boundaries of a Magpie territory, one of my friends shot dead one of the mating pair. Every time after that happened, we could all walk through the same territory and the surviving Magpie would single out and attack only the friend that shot it's mate. For more than one season by the way.
Corvids are really intelligent and will remember people who mistreat them. Your friend should be glad he didn't have a car, they would have dive bombed the thing for months!
@@amberfoster3285 Yes, the animal kingdom in general should be given a lot more credit. We could certainly learn a great deal from them.
He deserved it.
@@bambuzelnadache6158 Yes, he was a friend but I certainly don't condone his actions. I thought it was a fair and just payback for the magpie.
@@amberfoster3285 8.
Ravens are the largest of songbirds. Crows come in second. Very smart too.
That it's okay to be called 'Part of the murder'?
So, what did we learn from that????
I've seen seven crows protecting an injured crow on the ground that could not fly. I got to within 200 feet of the injured crow before the others started to dive at me and drove me away.
*Use me as your "never use that intro ever again" button*
Are you talking about the intro the lady started her presentation with or the intro of the program or channel or whatever it is?
Concerning the Red Dress Project I heard a woman ask what the crows could tell us about our missing dead. Her comment startled me to realize that the crows would know.
Crows are so clever that they know how to use the telephone. They know how to place a phone "caw caw!"
Just yesterday I saw a crow sitting on the telephone line. I knew he was tapping the line. Or she..
I saw the Dead Crows in concert at Red Rocks last year.
Placing a strange crow that’s dead in the midst of a territory wouldn’t seem to give a true picture for behavior.
It seems like they knew the dead bird was not part of their group.
I have witnessed ravens grieve and believe this to be the case also.
Thank you Kaeli Swift, Ph.D.
I saw the thumbnail and thought, Taylor Swift did a TEDtalk??? Then it said Kaeli Swift. Is that her sister?
Edit: As I watch and listen... Is it just me, or does she sound like Taylor too?
She is semi-hot.
Like a hemisphere?
@@DSilvergun The length of those legs surely rate a 'hot'?
This speech happened 20 mins away from my home. 👍
Such a great presentation, very interesting. Don’t get why there were some negative comments, it was excellent.
How could the human being possibly gain any understanding of crow culture by placing a fake stuffed crow into their neighborhood?
It doesn't smell like a real crow, for example, and crows are way way too smart not to immediately know that it is a fake bird. You are only learning about how crows behave around fake crows and humans with fake faces (which i am sure any crow can see is not a normal "live" human face)
You have to actually get out into Nature and Be there With them and do the long long journey a la Jane Goodall for example. Only then would you eventually see real crow deaths and the social impact on the rest of the community etc.
Could you hope to understand the reaction to death in a foreign human culture by placing a crash test dummy on the ground and then seeing how passersby react? lol
They most propably controlled those variables
I've always loved crows (yeah, I know, that's weird) but there's just something about them that I've always found interesting, they seemed strong and intelligent. So when I read the title of this TED TALKS, I thought I might learn something. She was a great speaker and it was quite interesting. But what did the crows teach US about death and the evolution of our own behaviors? What did I miss?
G Power lol literally what I was thinking but I probably missed the point in the entire video
There's much to learn she said, and we only know a part of it. Maybe if you watch again without video, just listen?
@G Power ...or maybe juju??
I saw a hooded raven by the Danube today 🇷🇸 BG
Weird i saw crow for straight 2 days then i saw this🤨🧐
Hindu mythology has even greater insight to this topic. Crow and the connection to death and ancestors. Rituals that are practiced for 1000 of years.
death is in the unknown/dark for many they struggle or ponder the living realm which is the known/light please listen from with in to know or understand the search or seeking one is ponder
Death the ultimate truth so we should think about life..and present
My dog,years ago, who was obsessed with catching a rabbit came across a dead rabbit freshly hit lying in the road ...... I wouldnt let him get so close that he touched it, but....My agressive dog desperately wanted to get to it, I let him within inches of it , & surprisingly my dog seemed confused sorta , & began a sad whine . He knew he was dead & was showing sadness.
Fascinating
When confronted with death, all species want to re-affirm life.
Poetry: When I die I will become a bird and my soul will fly away.
I love crows and ravens
I kinda assumed this was about the night watch! 🙈
Saloni! How wonderful to find your comment!!
All I know is that crows carry souls to the land of the dead. But sometimes a crow can bring that soul back.
re: my premonition of death and crow; - I wonder if someone can help me figure this out as I have been searching far and wide for a direction about this even though my intuition is telling me what I think it might be. I will try to make this very short and brief I will put it in point form;
-after a life tragedy I'm coming into awareness in terms of my connection to the other worlds, psychic abilities and more specifically connection with Raven / crows but birds in general too.
-in my 20s (I'm 40 now)-, I used to go sit at the cemetery when I had a lot of anxiety from school. It was a peaceful place and one day I was sitting in my car with the window down, noticed a crow or Raven that flew in front of the car and landed on the grass by a tombstone and I was just looking at it, and my mind literally just had a flash of thought across that that literally said “, Grandma is going to die tonight”. I thought it was so random and I just thought my mind was going to weird places because I saw a crow and I know that there's a superstition about them. My grandmother was not sick and in fact did actually pass away that morning the next day. No one could get ahold of her and my uncle had to crawl in her bedroom window to find her having passed away in her sleep. I was really freaked out about this and never told anybody and they would think I was crazy or lying.
2.I am a highly sensitive person and I'm starting to realize it now but ever since I was a young child I've always been connected to animals in terms of teaching people to save them and not hurt bugs etc (scoop up spiders let them outside etc) . That was the only time that I had something pop across my head - I have had other things since (non row related) but only a few predictions that happened, including a thought telling me, "Imagine this transport truck hit you up here on this skyway"- and 3 seconds later it did and I survived a horrific accident.
3.Through a reading recently I've been told that I have connections to the druid druidic Celtic Nordic ancestral. I had a major obsession with Princesses and castle/palaces an actually figured out that I'm obsessed with what you call the "Gothic architecture"- ornate, filligree , molding.) Ever since I was little I was obsessed with the doors of churches and the door knockers and every little thing that had to do with that kind of stuff. It's interesting that there are crows in a lot of Nordic mythology.
4. In keeping up with this obsession, my favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty and I really always wanted a crow like Maleficent that sat on her shoulder and would fly on her finger to which in my 18th year I purchased a lovebird and he was my best friend for 20 years.
5. Playing in my parents pool one day in the summer on a flotation, a wild Sparrow landed right on my chest. I felt the air in my face as the wings were beating and as I looked up he just plopped onto my chest for a quick moment and then flew away.
6.most recently I walked outside to my car after I had been doing a lot of this spiritual counseling after the trauma in my life lately, and I walked out to my car and 123 crows in unison one after the other flew to a tree right in front of me
I feel like I'm reading into things but this just seems like too much to be a coincidence does anyone have any idea what the heck is happening mainly about my premonition and the crow
The Counting Crows brought me here.
4:00 wow big mystery for the scientistods . Answer? She didnt want to see her baby eaten by scavengers/sharks/etc. it was her baby she loved and the thought of this was….well mothers ….how would you feel in leaving your dead child on the side walk, tossing it in a lake or the woods?
I am request ted X talks please release video with subtitle
10:32 - Well, uhm... alrighty, then... Can't un-see that. [lol!]
That clip was traumatizing
My brother the crow!
Was she transported here from 1992?
no
The 90's never went away. The 90's just put it's flannel on and went into hibernation for a couple decades.
Yeah at times i thought i was watching an episode of Portlandia.
eightysix, imo
Beautiful Kaeli
One question: Where'd you get all the dead crows?
Why not consider the response a signal for threat-to-the-species and/or time-to-perpetuate-the species? Flock survival.
Did you know a group of crows are called a murder of crows?
I knew that. But murder instead of murderer. I wonder if that has a different meaning? I will Google this question.
@@dancagle2533 You are correct, I will change it
Whenever she said "attracted to their dead" I had to quietly chastise myself "I know you're thinking "NECROPHILIA", but this is a sweet, innocent woman, & she's probably wording it like that because she doesn't even know that fetish exists" but then she actually.... said it.
I heard that and 😬😬😳😳😳 was my reaction. Necrophilia didn't cross my mind until I saw your comment. Lol it translated the emojis
Attraction just means 'drawn to'. She's not so naive since she did reference a 'nectophikuc crow 3 way', later in the video, which is not exactly scientific terminology.😂
amazing
I was not expecting necrophilia
No one ever does... [jk]
A crow tried to take a dump on my head when I was walking outside.
"Make up history in the future." Modern Historian
Death is always nipping at the heels of life. When the crows saw the relentless shadow behind the deceased bird, their collective instincts catalyzed the male to create. This creation gives life the extra step in this eternal race.
Two wait for me every morning to wake up
Oh I wonder
my dog died and after an hour a crow came to our door and looked inside the house and then left. After some minutes it came back and it left again.
She looks like what a speaker on this subject would look like
What she looks abit crowy to you?
When 1 live ends, a new 1 gets born, was the message. The violence was because they saw it was unnatural. And the danced like we do, after the funeral. Namasté.
Best Wishes to All for 2020 There is a documentary about this that makes this topic much more interesting than a lecture. Look it up on You Tube. It was filmed in the state of Washington following large groups of crows around, to study their long term memory and relationships. It was probably done by National Geographic.
Interesting; however, it smacked of a plea for more public funding for research which might be on the periphery of 'important things to research.'
There is a reason that i typed in "crows can smell death" yet the answer was not in this video. Thanks anyway.
I Once observed one crow kill another crow... on a hillside, one, on its back was screaming in pain, its wings flapping, as another on top, was ripping its organs out...,
I think of Brandon Lee. Which makes me think of his father.
Death comes to us like a plague.
*cough* *cough* Corona virus
Lucky to have God on there side
Say what now?
Quran also talks about corvid funerals. Caliph Uthman inspired by Abel decided not to defend himself against violent protestors.
i learn with my pure heart not my nmind
11:20
And I thought humans were the worst creatures
How just explain
How do you think that
Can ask a question you breath and how? God create very effectively and unbelievable
Say something and discuss with me
@@fatihsugur4761 Language.
You have already lost this discussion.
@@007Jefke1 @Aditya escape like everyone because you don't believe in your information see you
You will lose everyone like this
Fatih Suğur You use "god" as an argument. (:
Forgive Fatih , y'all.
Though, I believe a scientist wrote the Bible. (Coz of the Cain and Abel thing)
Don't you think so?
Quote the Raven nevermore
So isn't nobody gonna talk about how she looks like Taylor Swift?
I live in Lake Worth, Florida (unincorporated) and the crows and ravens are so intelligent. They are definitely different compared to other birds. I've definitely seen them decorating places of other dead birds. I've seen them fight off turkey vultures. I've seen groups of them join to fight other swarms of birds. I've fed crows by hand. I've been able to gain their respect and pet them and they 'caw'. Birds are just tiny 2020 dinosaurs. They've been around, they know what's up.
Thank you lady
The crows copulated because they saw death. They wanted to ensure the continuation of their species.
I have had crows as pets and was excited to watch this. Lots and lots of talking and nothing new or worthwhile.
So crows like to play “dead body” just like humans?
Ooooooh... just before the pandemic.
Showing a dead crow to crows proves very little in that the crows that saw the dead crow did not know the dead crow. You would have had to observe a natural thing to make any real conclusions! Where is the Science here! This is just confusing to the crows! Hence their reactions were bizarre!
😍
Anyone else neurodivergent and go buck wild at the intro
Death is an illusion.
Or perhaps life is.
well then why dont u Just end it?
@@theseeker2586 Or they both are...? Perhaps life starts after you die. You know, like being born IS death. Then in dying, you get to come to life. Real life.
What we experience as life and death are both illusions. To different focuses, not really seperated from each other, but seperated by our belief systems which are the roots of our deluded perception.
@@olekblochin7177 I have the identical understanding of life and death as you. Very well stated in your comment. I do ,however, have the feeling I am going to enjoy my life much more once I am dead LOL
Start with the Tibetan monks
I learn English watching this video about crows' necrophilia. That's so exciting :D
You too enjoy necrophillia I must assume. If this is the only English learning you took from this video.
Dónde está todos
.
.
.
I think about death everyday
You need to seek help
You give the impression there is nothing else to think about.
That's a waste of your life. Why do you think about death anyway? It's not like you can do anything about it. It's inevitable, it will happen to anyone, it is out of your control and you won't even understand it when it happens to you so why do you even bother? Thinking about death is thinking about nothing. Think about life instead. That you can control. And to that you can have a say. Stop worrying about death and worry about living instead. It's much more practical and productive. Trust me, if there's any life after death, you'll have PLENTY of time to think about it after you've died. So I'd suggest you focused on what's of importance at the moment and that's your life. That should be your main concern.
@@Sneed_formerly_chucks Hahahaha!
Anyone else put off when she mentioned the bible?😐😐
Those crows are always stoned