Sunday, June 08, 2014

Crows Crush Squirrels

I often see crows eating roadkill. They seem to prefer the flat squirrels to the other types of two dimensional animals. Based on the lack of dead crows in the road, they also seem to be pretty good at avoiding cars.

A couple of days ago, as I watched a crow chase a squirrel into the road, it occurred to me that crows probably take a more active role in the roadkill process that I previously thought. This was the second time in less than a month that I'd witnessed this particular type of interaction. I think this is how crows prepare lunch, using cars as huge, rolling meat tenderizers. After all, crows are known tool users, and their use of vehicles to crush acorns and other nuts is pretty well documented. Crows have long been witnessed dropping acorns and other hard nuts into crosswalks at intersections, waiting for traffic lights to turn green so the wall of traffic will roll forward and shatter the shells, and then walking out into the crosswalk to obtain their prizes.

Our avian overlords await.

Check out a short clip of a crow preparing lunch here.

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