in the company of crows and ravens by john m marzluff

He turned to look down the road at me before emphatically throwing the grass into the road and deftly reaching over the trap to grab the bread I used as bait. Does it seem that they in turn study you?Ī: (Marzluff) I particularly remember a raven who carefully approached one of myb traps, stopped short of stepping into it, and reached over to pull the grass camouflage off the trap’s trigger. Q: You’ve studied crows and ravens extensively. Crows are elegant without benefit of fancy and colorful plumage they are animated and physically imposing, the fuel for artistic inspiration. We hope others can experience our discovery. Discovering the joint history of people and crows opened our eyes to the close and continuing relationship evolving between people and elements of the natural world. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.Ī: Seven years ago we set out to write a natural history of the American crow, but a much different book emerged a natural and cultural history of crows and ravens worldwide. To a surprising extent, to know the crow is to know ourselves.'

As the authors state in their preface: “Crows and people share similar traits and social strategies. In the Company of Crows and Ravens illuminates the entwined histories of crows and people and concludes with an intriguing discussion of the crow-human relationship and how our attitudes toward crows may affect our cultural trajectory. Examining the often surprising ways that crows and humans interact, John Marzluff and Tony Angell contend that those interactions reflect a process of “cultural coevolution.” They offer a challenging new view of the human-crow dynamic-a view that may change our thinking not only about crows but also about ourselves.įeaturing more than 100 original drawings, the book takes a close look at the influences people have had on the lives of crows throughout history and at the significant ways crows have altered human lives.

Yet this influence is not unidirectional, say the authors of this fascinating book: people profoundly influence crow culture, ecology, and evolution as well. From the cave walls at Lascaux to the last painting by Van Gogh, from the works of Shakespeare to those of Mark Twain, there is clear evidence that crows and ravens influence human culture.

In the company of crows and ravens by john m marzluff