the exact sort of thing an animal cannot do.

Your suppositions make no sense.

Food-caching is a risky strategy, however, because the caches can be stolen by other birds. In addition to hiding their own food caches, corvids also play the role of thief: they watch and remember where other birds have hidden their caches and use this information to steal those caches when the owner has left the scene. When playing the role of thief, speed is of the essence and may make the difference between a successful raid and vicious attack by the owner of the food-cache. Not surprisingly, corvids also employ a number of counter strategies to reduce the risk that their own caches will be stolen by another bird. For example, they attempt to cache out of sight from potential thieves, or wait until the raider is distracted before hiding their caches, and if that is not possible, they hide caches in places that are difficult for the thief to see. When there is little option but to cache when others are around, then the birds will return to the caches once the others have left, and quickly re-hide any remaining caches in new places unbeknown to the potential raider.

Laboratory experiments have established that western scrub-jays use all these techniques to protect their caches from potential thieves, and only do so if another bird is present at the time of caching. Furthermore, they only move their caches to new hiding places if they have been thieves themselves in the past. Na??ve jays, even ones who have watched other birds caching but have never had the opportunity to raid those caches, do not do so. This suggests that experienced birds relate information about their previous experience of being a thief to the possibility of future theft by another bird, and adjust their caching behaviour accordingly. Using your own experience to predict another individual's future behaviour in relation to your own – ‘putting yourself in someone else's shoes' – is thought to be one of the hallmarks of Theory of Mind, another ability that was thought to be uniquely human.

Next time you see a group of crows, look closely. Try to remember which one is which, and see if you can tell the difference between them the next time you pass. Odds are good that you can't; they're crows, which makes them all big black birds. On the other hand, every last one of them very likely remembers you as the weird human who kept staring at them. We know this, because researchers in Seattle performed an experiment with some crows around their college campus. They captured seven of the birds, tagged them, then let them go. And they did it all while wearing creepy skin masks, because it was funny:

OK, so the scientists weren't just playing out horror movie fantasies -- they were testing whether the crows could recognize human faces or not. It turns out they can. To a frightening degree: Whenever the scientists walked around campus with the masks on, the crows would "scold" and dive-bomb them... because along with the ability to recognize us as individuals, the researchers also learned that crows can hold a grudge. And pretty soon, it wasn't just the first seven crows reacting. Other birds, ones that hadn't even been captured in the first place, started dive-bombing the scientists as well.

In case you think they were just telling each other "get the guy with the mask," they weren't: The test was repeated with multiple people wearing multiple masks, and without fail, the crows left the masked men who hadn't messed with them alone, but went murder-crazy on the mask that had been worn while messing with them. Quick, in Point Break, which Presidential mask did Swayze wear? No idea? Don't worry, we're pretty sure Johnny Utah didn't know half the time, either. But the crows would have.

Quick, in Point Break, which Presidential mask did Swayze wear? No idea? Don't worry, we're pretty sure Johnny Utah didn't know half the time, either. But the crows would have.

Gotta love crows ...

and on high power lines.

If you've never been dive-bombed by crows, I do not recommend it. It's terrifying.

If you've never been dive-bombed by crows, I do not recommend it. It's terrifying.

We have magpies here in Aus. and they are very agressive during mating season. They will dive bomb runners, walkers and cyclists at will. In areas where they are prominent you just have to make a wide berth of them because it's not a case of maybe, but how many times they will dive bomb you.

but as a farmer, a real farmer not a hobby farmer, not a dabbler, not someone who just lived 5 miles out of town and as someone who hunted regularly from age 4 if folks want input of someone who knows what the h8ll he is talking about versus suppostion (sic) and conjecture i am willing to engage.

All my French ancestry is in my feet!

White's interp of Genesis is idiotic, btw, as is any reading of it the excuses the rape of the natural world.

not claiming any authority on morality. just willing to speak to the operational aspects of farming (both individual or factory farming), the mindset of the farmer, the mindset of the hunter, the technical aspects of hunting or things which are factual

it's hogs (gap) horses (gap) cows (big gap) sheep

We have magpies here in Aus. and they are very agressive during mating season.

The issue isn't the mechanics of firearms and hunting. The issue is sport hunting, going out in the woods to kill something because it's a fun thing to do. I would think farmers like you, living close to the land as you do, might object to that.

What he says is another way of saying since animals Yankees fans, lawyers & Republicans have no soul, we can do what we want with them.

you will likely get 10 sentences when you were looking for one

it's hogs (gap) horses (gap) cows (big gap) sheep

Yeah, sheep are pretty dumb. A lot of them won't even defend themselves.

The merest accident of microgeography had meant that the first man to hear the voice of Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd. They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different. For sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.

- Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

This touches on what Zop is saying above. What he says is another way of saying since animals have no soul, we can do what we want with them.

i was using that phrase way before the movie unforgiven

what happened to the edit function. hard to fix typos without it.

I've walked and crawled. Come get me chump!

being a functional alcholic sometimes has its advantages

edit: this was edited with chrome, just to spite gef.

i have read on the internet that supposedly, and i do mean supposedly, it's a 'thing' now to try and run down an animal like a deer to emulate primitive hunters. that hard core runners engage in this activity.

what do folks think of this running down an animal nonsense?

i have read on the internet that supposedly, and i do mean supposedly, it's a 'thing' now to try and run down an animal like a deer to emulate primitive hunters. that hard core runners engage in this activity.

i find something like this repugnant on multiple levels but have not confirmed whether it is actually happening or it's internet bs

i do know that if i can ascertain that it's real i am going to work to raise awareness. because i think hunters and animal lovers would be united that this sick, twisted behavior

what do folks think of this running down an animal nonsense?

i have read on the internet that supposedly, and i do mean supposedly, it's a 'thing' now to try and run down an animal like a deer to emulate primitive hunters. that hard core runners engage in this activity.

i find something like this repugnant on multiple levels but have not confirmed whether it is actually happening or it's internet bs

I think it's much, much crueler to the animal than shooting it with a rifle,

I think it's much, much crueler to the animal than shooting it with a rifle,


It's also insanely stupid, as the meat would be inedible.

read an article describing that way back in the 1970s. I think it was in Sports Illustrated.

Put me in the camp that thinks it's more urban legend than actual practice

Well, there was Randall Hill (WR for Miami Hurricanes in late 80s-1990) who famously told Pat Haden that he dreams of running with cheetahs and getting pulled over by the police for speeding (on foot presumably). Perhaps he's running after deer in his post-playing days.

Professional athletes are the most humonguously egocentric people on earth.