![]() Ravens are easily told from their close relatives, the crows, by greater size, larger and heavier beak, shaggy feathers around the throat and beak, and wedge-shaped tail, most visible in flight. (Map above shows range only in Western Hemisphere.) Eight subspecies are recognized over their extensive range. They're also adaptable, found in many parts of the world in habitats from mountains to deserts. They seem to play in the air as well, flying loop-de-loops and rolls dive-bombing each other and locking claws in mid-air. ![]() Juvenile ravens slide down snowbanks and roll in fresh snow, apparently just for fun. Notable among wild animals for making their own toys, they have been observed lobbing stones back and forth and breaking off twigs to play catch. Ravens may have a scary side, but they also are among the most playful beings in the animal kingdom. The juvenile raven will return to the roost and communicate the find to other birds, and the next day, a flock of unmated ravens will fly to the carcass and chase off the adults. Ravens have been observed demonstrating this communication capacity when a lone juvenile bird discovers a large carcass guarded by a pair of adult ravens. Biologist Bernd Heinrich, known for his studies of raven behavior, argues that the raven is one of only four known animals (along with bees, ants, and humans) with the ability to communicate about events not in the here-and-now. Their brains are among the largest of any bird species, and they display excellent problem-solving ability. Maybe people find ravens intimidating because they are so smart. ![]() Others have seen the raven as a bird of death and doom, perhaps most famously by Edgar Allan Poe in his poem, "The Raven." Swedish folktales depict ravens as the ghosts of those who have been murdered, and old German stories describe ravens as damned souls. ![]() In Native American cultures, it is portrayed as a sly trickster, a spiritual figure, or even a god that helped create the earth. The intelligent and sociable Common Raven has been the subject of mythology, folklore, and literature through the ages. ![]()
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