YouTube videos of crows playing with kittens, fashioning tools, or using traffic to crack nuts (prudently waiting for the light to change before feasting) have given millions a glimpse of the remarkable intelligence of corvids, the family that also includes ravens, magpies, rooks, and jays. Now, to the growing shelf of books on these feathered prodigies by Bernd Heinrich, Candace Savage, and Lyanda Lynn Haupt, wildlife biologist John Marzluff and artist-naturalist Tony Angell make a new contribution that probes the adaptive roots of corvids’ ingenuity, sociability, and affinity with humans.
Deftly folding neuroscience into anecdote and legend, Gifts of the Crow links corvids’ brain chemistry and anatomy (meticulously illustrated by Angell) to their abilities to play, deceive, plan, imitate, recognize human friends and foes (and their cars), hold grudges—heckling an offending bird bander for years—reciprocate kindness with gifts, and thrive in a world we’ve altered. If the litany of neurotransmitters ...
