Do Crows Dream About You?

Do crows remember faces, and could a crow dream about yours? It is a question about crow intelligence and about sleep, and scientists have tested both. At the University of Washington in Seattle, a researcher put on a caveman mask and trapped wild American crows. What did the campus crows do when that mask came back, years later? What happens when crows watch a person standing over a dead crow? And what goes on inside a crow's brain when it sees the face of the man who caught it? Then the lights go out. Do birds have REM sleep, the stage of your most vivid dreams? Researchers have looked at jackdaws, zebra finches, starlings and pigeons while they slept. So do crows dream, and if they do, could you be in it? 0:00 A crow on your streetlight 0:26 Do we all look alike? 1:02 The caveman mask 2:46 A dead crow and a face 4:14 A crow in a brain scanner 5:50 How jackdaws sleep 7:37 Do birds replay their day? 9:20 So, do crows dream of you? Every study behind this video is listed below. 📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES: ▸ Caveman mask, 7 crows: "Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows" by Marzluff, Walls et al. (2010, Animal Behaviour); mask and year as reported by NPR (2009) and The New York Times (2008, 2024). ▸ Warning spreads, 66%: "Social learning spreads knowledge about dangerous humans among American crows" by Cornell, Marzluff et al. (2012, Proceedings of the Royal Society B). ▸ 17-year grudge, not yet published: as reported by The New York Times (Fuller, 2024). ▸ Dead crow, 95 of 100: "Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger" by Swift, Marzluff (2015, Animal Behaviour); numbers from Swift's 2015 University of Washington thesis. ▸ Brain scan, 12 crows: "Brain imaging reveals neuronal circuitry underlying the crow's perception of human faces" by Marzluff, Miyaoka et al. (2012, PNAS). ▸ Jackdaws know faces: "Wild jackdaws, Corvus monedula, recognize individual humans and may respond to gaze direction with defensive behaviour" by Davidson, Clayton et al. (2015, Animal Behaviour). ▸ Jackdaws asleep, a quarter REM: "Sleep and thermoregulation in birds: cold exposure reduces brain temperature but has little influence on sleep time and sleep architecture in jackdaws (Coloeus monedula)" by van Hasselt, Coscia et al. (2024, Biology). ▸ Pigeons in REM, 15 birds: "Wide-spread brain activation and reduced CSF flow during avian REM sleep" by Ungurean, Behroozi et al. (2023, Nature Communications). ▸ Song replay: "Song replay during sleep and computational rules for sensorimotor vocal learning" by Dave, Margoliash (2000, Science). ▸ Starlings: "Sleep-dependent consolidation of auditory discrimination learning in adult starlings" by Brawn, Nusbaum et al. (2010, Journal of Neuroscience). ▸ Jackdaws in the Netherlands, 100,000-150,000 pairs: as reported by Sovon, species page Kauw (2018-2020). ▸ Oldest carrion crow, 20 years 10 months: as reported by BTO BirdFacts, Carrion Crow. ———————————————————— PEOPLE, PLACES & ANIMALS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: ▸ American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos): the crow of the Seattle mask, dead-crow and brain-scan studies. ▸ Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula): the crow's smaller cousin, studied in Cambridge and Groningen. ▸ Carrion crow (Corvus corone): the oldest one on record lived almost 21 years. ▸ Zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata): its sleeping brain plays its song again. ▸ European starling (Sturnus vulgaris): tells songs apart better after a night's sleep. ▸ Pigeon (Columba livia): in REM sleep, the parts of its brain for sight light up. ▸ John Marzluff: wore the caveman mask and led the brain scan. ▸ Heather Cornell: counted the scolding crows on campus with Marzluff. ▸ Kaeli Swift: ran the dead-crow test near Seattle. ▸ Donna Cross: scanned the crows' brains with Marzluff's team. ▸ Gabrielle Davidson, Nicola Clayton and Alex Thornton: showed in Cambridge, England, that jackdaws know faces. ▸ Sjoerd van Hasselt and Peter Meerlo: recorded jackdaw sleep in Groningen, the Netherlands. ▸ Amish Dave and Daniel Margoliash: listened to single brain cells of a sleeping zebra finch. ▸ Timothy Brawn: tested starlings before and after sleep. ▸ Gianina Ungurean and Niels Rattenborg: scanned sleeping pigeons at the Max Planck Institute. ▸ University of Washington, Seattle: the campus of the caveman mask. ———————————————————— 🎨 Animation by Fulcrum ———————————————————— #crows #corvids #dreams