Crows
Scientific
classification
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Kingdom:
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Animalia
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Phylum:
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Chordata
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Class:
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Aves
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Order:
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Passeriformes
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Family:
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Corvidae
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Genus:
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Corvus
Linnaeus, 1758
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The crow family Corvidae contains not only crows
but also birds such as jays, nutcrackers, ravens and magpies. Members of
Corvidae are found on all continents apart from Antarctica.
Crows are among the most intelligent of all
animals. Several species have demonstrated tool use and self-recognition in
mirror tests.
The common raven is not only the largest member of
the crow family, but also the largest passerine. It’s as big as – if not
slightly bigger than – the common buzzard.
Crows form the genus Corvus in
the family Corvidae. They are medium to large sized birds, carnivores and
scavengers.
The genus includes the crow (carrion crow or hooded crow),
the rook, jackdaw,
and the large common raven. The genus has 40 or so members on all temperate continents except
for South America, and some islands.
The Corvus makes up a third of the species in the
Corvidae. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from corvid stock which had
evolved in Australia. The collective name for a group of crows is a flock or,
more poetically, a murder.
Intelligence
Some crow species not only use tools but also make tools. Crows
are now thought to be, with parrots,
among the world's most intelligent birds.
They have a brain size (adjusted for body size) as large as some
apes. The jackdaw and the European magpie have
a nidopallium about the same relative size as the equivalent neocortex in chimpanzees,[5] and
significantly larger than is found in the gibbon.
A story of how a girl fed crows, and in return they brought her
tiny gifts, shows what the birds are capable of.