Common Raven
Encyclopedia
The Common Raven also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine
bird. Found across the northern hemisphere
, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids
. There are at least eight subspecies
with little variation in appearance— although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed Raven
, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the Common Raven averages 63 cm (25 inches) in length and 1.2 kg (2.6 pounds
). Common Ravens typically live about 10 to 15 years in the wild, although lifespans of up to 40 years have been recorded. Young birds may travel in flocks, but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.
The Common Raven has coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas has been so numerous that it is considered a pest. Part of its success comes from its omnivorous
diet; Common Ravens are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion
, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste.
Some remarkable feats of problem-solving have been observed in the species, leading to the belief that it is highly intelligent
. Over the centuries, it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature
. In many indigenous cultures, including those of Scandinavia
, ancient Ireland
and Wales
, Bhutan
, the northwest coast of North America
, and Siberia
and northeast Asia, the Common Raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or god.
in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae
, and it still bears its original name of Corvus corax. It is the type species
of the genus Corvus, derived from the Latin for "Raven". The specific epithet, corax/κοραξ, is the Ancient Greek
word for "raven" or "crow". The name "raven" has been applied to several other (generally large) species of the genus Corvus, though they are not necessarily closely related to Corvus corax. Some, such as the Australian Raven
and Forest Raven
, are clearly closer to the other Australian crows. The original raven is now called the Common or Northern Raven.
The modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages
, including Old Norse hrafn and Old High German
(h)raban, all which descend from Proto-Germanic *khrabanas. An old Scottish
word corby or corbie, akin to the French
corbeau, has been used for both this bird and the Carrion Crow
.
Obsolete collective nouns for a group of ravens (or at least the Common Raven) include "unkindness" and "conspiracy". In practice, most people use the more generic "flock".
(C. ruficollis) and the Pied Crow
(C. albus) of Africa, and the Chihuahuan Raven
(C. cryptoleucus) of the North American southwest. While some authorities recognized as many as 11 subspecies
, others only recognize eight:
and crossed the Bering land bridge
into North America. Recent genetic studies, which examined the DNA
of Common Ravens from across the world, have determined that the birds fall into at least two clade
s: a California
clade, found only in the southwestern United States, and a Holarctic
clade, found across the rest of the northern hemisphere. Birds from both clades look alike, but the groups are genetically distinct and began to diverge about two million years ago.
The findings indicate that based on mitochondrial DNA, Common Ravens from the rest of the United States are more closely related to those in Europe and Asia than to those in the California clade, and that Common Ravens in the California clade are more closely related to the Chihuahuan Raven
(C. cryptoleucus) than to those in the Holarctic clade. Ravens in the Holarctic clade are more closely related to the Pied Crow
(C. albus) than they are to the California clade. Thus, the Common Raven species as traditionally delimited is considered to be paraphyletic.
One explanation for these surprising genetic findings is that Common Ravens settled in California at least two million years ago and became separated from their relatives in Europe and Asia during an ice age
. One million years ago, a group from the California clade evolved into a new species, the Chihuahuan Raven. Other members of the Holarctic clade arrived later in a separate migration from Asia, perhaps at the same time as humans.
A recent study of raven mitochondrial DNA
showed that the isolated population from the Canary Islands is distinct from other populations. The study did not include any individuals from the North African population, and its position is therefore unclear, though its morphology
is very close to the population of the Canaries (to the extent that the two are often considered part of a single subspecies).
A mature Common Raven ranges between 56 and 78 cm (22 to 30 inches) in length, with a wingspan
of 100 to 150 cm (40 to 59 in). Recorded weights range from 0.69 to 2 kg (1.5 to 4.4 lb), thus making the Common Raven one of the heaviest passerine
s. Birds from colder regions such as the Himalayas and Greenland are generally larger with slightly larger bills, while those from warmer regions are smaller with proportionally smaller bills. The bill
is large and slightly curved. It has a longish, strongly graduated tail, mostly black iridescent plumage, and a dark brown iris
. The throat feathers are elongated and pointed and the bases of the neck feathers are pale brownish-grey. Juvenile plumage is similar but duller with a blue-grey iris.
Apart from its greater size, the Common Raven differs from its cousins, the crow
s, by having a larger and heavier, black beak, shaggy feathers around the throat and above the beak, and a wedge-shaped tail. The species has a distinctive, deep, resonant prruk-prruk-prruk call, which to experienced listeners is unlike that of any other corvid. Its very wide and complex vocabulary includes a high, knocking toc-toc-toc, a dry, grating kraa, a low guttural rattle and some calls of an almost musical nature. In flight the feathers produce a creaking sound that has been likened to the rustle of silk.
Common Ravens can be very long-lived, especially in captive or protected conditions; individuals at the Tower of London
have lived for more than 40 years. Lifespans in the wild are considerably shorter: typically only 10 to 15 years. The longest known lifespan of a banded
wild Common Raven was 23 years, 3 months.
Common Ravens can thrive in varied climates; indeed this species has the largest range of any member of the genus. They range throughout the Holarctic
from Arctic
and temperate
habitats in North America and Eurasia
to the deserts of North Africa, and to islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the British Isles
, they are more common in Scotland
, Wales
, northern England and the west of Ireland. In Tibet
, they have been recorded at altitudes up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft), and as high as 6,350 m (20,600 ft) on Mount Everest
. The population sometimes known as the Punjab Raven — described as Corvus corax laurencei (also spelt lawrencii or laurencii) by Allan Octavian Hume
but more often considered synonymous with subcorax — is restricted to the Sindh
district of Pakistan and adjoining regions of northwestern India.
Except in Arctic habitats, they are generally resident within their range for the whole year. Young birds may disperse locally.
In the Faroe Islands
a now extinct colour-morph of this species existed, known as the Pied Raven
.
Most Common Ravens prefer wooded areas, with large expanses of open land nearby, or coastal regions for their nesting sites and feeding grounds. In some areas of dense human population, such as California
in the United States, they take advantage of a plentiful food supply and have seen a surge in their numbers.
. Relationships between Common Ravens are often quarrelsome, yet they demonstrate considerable devotion to their families.
Common Ravens are omnivorous and highly opportunistic: their diet may vary widely with location, season and serendipity
. For example, those foraging on tundra
on the Arctic North Slope of Alaska
obtained about half their energy needs from predation, mainly of microtine rodents
, and half by scavenging, mainly of caribou and ptarmigan carcasses.
In some places they are mainly scavenger
s, feeding on carrion
as well as the associated maggots and carrion beetle
s. Plant food includes cereal grains
, berries and fruit
. They prey on small invertebrate
s, amphibians, reptile
s, small mammals and birds. Ravens may also consume the undigested portions of animal feces
, and human food waste
. They store surplus food items, especially those containing fat, and will learn to hide such food out of the sight of other Common Ravens. Ravens also raid the food caches of other species, such as the Arctic Fox
. They sometimes associate with another canine, the Grey Wolf, as a kleptoparasite, following to scavenge wolf-kills in winter. Ravens are regular predators at bird nests and are considered a threat to the nesting success of the endangered California Condor
.
Due to its size, gregariousness and its defensive abilities, the Common Raven has few natural predators. Predators of its eggs include owl
s, marten
s, and other ravens. Ravens are quite vigorous at defending their young and are usually successful at driving off perceived threats, including passing humans. There are records of predation by Golden Eagle
s, with which ravens overlap considerably in range across the Northern Hemisphere. The Eurasian Eagle Owl
and the Great Horned Owl
have been recorded as grabbing ravens off of their nocturnal perches. Due to the fact that they are potential hazardous prey for raptorial birds, raptors usually must take them by surprise and most attacks are on fledgling ravens. Rarely, large mammalian predators such as lynx
es, coyote
s, and cougars have attacked ravens. This principally occurs at a nest site and when other prey for the carnivores are scarce. Due to such predators, ravens are highly wary around novel carrion sites and, in North America
, have been recorded waiting for American Crow
s and Blue Jay
s to approach carrion first before they themselves move in.
Common Ravens nesting near sources of human garbage
included a higher percentage of food waste in their diet, birds nesting near roads consumed more road-killed
vertebrate
s, and those nesting far from these sources of food ate more arthropod
s and plant material. Fledging success was higher for those using human garbage as a food source. In contrast, a 1984-1986 study of Common Raven diet in an agricultural region of south-western Idaho
found that cereal grains were the principal constituent of pellet
s, though small mammals, grasshoppers, cattle carrion and birds were also eaten.
One behavior is recruitment, where juvenile ravens call other ravens to a food bonanza, usually a carcass, with a series of loud yells. In Ravens in Winter, Bernd Heinrich
posited that this behavior evolved to allow the juveniles to outnumber the resident adults, thus allowing them to feed on the carcass without being chased away. A more mundane explanation is that individuals co-operate in sharing information about carcasses of large mammals because they are too big for just a few birds to exploit. Experiments with baits however show that such recruitment behaviour is independent of the size of the bait.
Juveniles begin to court at a very early age, but may not bond for another two or three years. Aerial acrobatics, demonstrations of intelligence, and ability to provide food are key behaviors of courting. Once paired, they tend to nest together for life, usually in the same location. Instances of non-monogamy have been observed in Common Ravens, by males visiting a female's nest when her mate is away.
Breeding pairs must have a territory of their own before they begin nest-building and reproduction, and thus aggressively defend a territory and its food resources. Nesting territories vary in size according to the density of food resources in the area. The nest is a deep bowl made of large sticks and twigs, bound with an inner layer of roots, mud, and bark and lined with a softer material, such as deer
fur. The nest is usually placed in a large tree or on a cliff ledge, or less frequently in old buildings or utility poles.
Females lay between three to seven pale bluish-green, brown-blotched eggs. Incubation is about 18 to 21 days, by the female only. However, the male may stand or crouch over the young, sheltering but not actually brooding them. Young fledge
at 35 to 42 days, and are fed by both parents. They stay with their parents for another six months after fledging.
In most of their range, egg laying begins in late February. In colder climates, it is later, e.g. April in Greenland
and Tibet
. In Pakistan, egg-laying takes place in December. Eggs and hatchlings are rarely preyed on by large hawk
s and eagle
s, large owl
s, marten
s and canids. The adults, which are very rarely predated, are often successful in defending their young from these predators, due to their numbers, large size and cunning. They have been observed dropping stones on potential predators that venture close to their nests.
Fifteen to 30 categories of vocalization have been recorded for this species, most of which are used for social
interaction. Calls recorded include alarm calls, chase calls, and flight calls. Non-vocal sounds produced by the Common Raven include wing whistles and bill snapping. Clapping or clicking has been observed more often in females than in males. If a member of a pair is lost, its mate reproduces the calls of its lost partner to encourage its return.
The brains of Common Ravens count among the largest of any bird species. Specifically, their hyperpallium is large (see avian pallium
). For a bird, they display ability in problem solving, as well as other cognitive processes such as imitation
and insight
.
One experiment designed to evaluate insight and problem-solving ability involved a piece of meat attached to a string hanging from a perch. To reach the food, the bird needed to stand on the perch, pull the string up a little at a time, and step on the loops to gradually shorten the string. Four of five Common Ravens eventually succeeded, and "the transition from no success (ignoring the food or merely yanking at the string) to constant reliable access (pulling up the meat) occurred with no demonstrable trial-and-error learning." This supports the hypothesis that Common Ravens are 'inventors'; that is, they have the ability to solve problems presented to them. Many of the Common Raven's problem-solving skills were formerly thought to be instinctive, but it is becoming clear that Common Ravens are actually quite intelligent.
Common Ravens have been observed to manipulate others into doing work for them, such as by calling wolves and coyote
s to the site of dead animals. The canines open the carcass, making it more accessible to the birds. They watch where other Common Ravens bury their food and remember the locations of each other's food caches, so they can steal from them. This type of theft occurs so regularly that Common Ravens will fly extra distances from a food source to find better hiding places for food. They have also been observed pretending to make a cache without actually depositing the food, presumably to confuse onlookers.
Common Ravens are known to steal and cache shiny objects such as pebbles, pieces of metal, and golf balls. One theory is that they hoard shiny objects to impress other ravens. Other research indicates that juveniles are deeply curious about all new things, and that Common Ravens retain an attraction to bright, round objects based on their similarity to bird eggs. Mature birds lose their intense interest in the unusual, and become highly neophobic
.
. Juvenile Common Ravens are among the most playful of bird species. They have been observed to slide down snowbanks, apparently purely for fun. They even engage in games with other species, such as playing catch-me-if-you-can with wolves and dogs. Common Ravens are known for spectacular aerobatic displays, such as flying in loops or interlocking talons with each other in flight.
They are also one of only a few species who make their own toys. They have been observed breaking off twigs to play with socially.
Common Ravens are widely distributed and are not currently in danger of extinction
. In some parts of their range, there have been localised declines due to habitat loss and direct persecution. Compared to many smaller Corvus
species (such as American Crow
), ravens prefer undisturbed montane or forest habitat or rural areas over urban areas. In other areas, their numbers have increased dramatically and they have become agricultural
pests. Common Ravens can cause damage to crops, such as nuts and grain, or can harm livestock, particularly by killing young goat kids
, lambs
and calves
. Ravens generally attack the faces of young livestock, but the more common Raven behavior of scavenging may be misidentified as predation by ranchers.
In the western Mojave desert
, human settlement and land development have led to an estimated 16-fold increase in the Common Raven population over 25 years. Towns, landfills, sewage treatment plants and artificial ponds create sources of food and water for scavenging birds. Ravens also find nesting sites in utility poles and ornamental trees, and are attracted to roadkill on highways. The explosion in the Common Raven population in the Mojave has raised concerns for the desert tortoise
, a threatened species
. Common Ravens prey upon juvenile tortoises, which have soft shells and are slow-moving. Plans to control the population have included shooting and trapping birds, as well as contacting landfill operators to ask that they reduce the amount of exposed garbage. A hunting bounty as a method of control was historically used in Finland from the mid-18th century until 1923. Culling has taken place to a limited extent in Alaska
, where the population increase in Common Ravens is threatening the vulnerable Steller's Eider
(Polysticta stelleri).
Across its range in the northern hemisphere, and throughout human history, the Common Raven has been a powerful symbol and a popular subject of mythology and folklore.
In many post-conversion Western tradition
s, ravens have long been considered to be birds of ill omen and death, in part because of the negative symbolism of their all-black plumage and the eating of carrion
. In Sweden, ravens are known as the ghosts of murdered people, and in Germany as the souls of the damned. In Danish folklore
, valravn
e that ate a king's heart gained human knowledge, could perform great malicious acts, could lead people astray, had superhuman powers, and were "terrible animals".
As in traditional mythology and folklore, the Common Raven features frequently in more modern writings such as the works of William Shakespeare
, and, perhaps most famously, in the poem "The Raven
" by Edgar Allan Poe
. Ravens have appeared in the works of Charles Dickens
, J. R. R. Tolkien
, Stephen King
, and Joan Aiken
among others.
It continues to be used as a symbol in areas where it once had mythological status: as the National Bird of Bhutan, Official Bird of the Yukon
territory, and on the Coat of Arms of the Isle of Man
(once a Viking colony).
The Baltimore Ravens
of the National Football League
have had a raven named "Poe" as their official mascot since the Cleveland Browns
relocated in 1995.
The modern unisex given name Raven
is derived from the English word "raven". As a masculine name, Raven parallels the Old Norse Hrafn
, and Old English *Hræfn, which were both bynames and personal names.
of North America and northeast Asia
revered it as a god
. In Tlingit and Haida cultures
, Raven was both a Trickster and Creator god. Related beliefs are widespread among the peoples of Siberia
and northeast Asia. The Kamchatka peninsula
, for example, was supposed to have been created by the raven god Kutkh
. There are several references to Common Ravens in the Old Testament
of the Bible
and it is an aspect of Mahakala
in Bhutan
ese mythology.
In Norse mythology
, Huginn (from Old Norse "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory"or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard
, and bring the god Odin
information. Additionally among the Norse, Raven banner
standards were carried by such figures as the Jarls of Orkney
, King Canute the Great
of England, Norway and Denmark, and Harald Hardrada. In the British Isles
, ravens also were symbolic to the Celt
s. In Irish mythology
, the goddess Morrígan
alighted on the hero Cú Chulainn
's shoulder in the form of a raven after his death. In Welsh mythology
they were associated with the Welsh god Bran the Blessed
, whose name translates to "raven." According to the Mabinogion
, Bran's head was buried in the White Hill of London as a talisman against invasion.
; although this is often thought to be an ancient belief, the official Tower of London historian, Geoff Parnell, believes that this is actually a romantic Victorian invention.
tradition, the raven was the first animal to be released from Noah's ark
. "6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground." Genesis 8:6-8 NKJV. In Christianity the raven appears throughout the Bible in twelve different verses. Genesis 8:7, Leviticus 11:15, Deuteronomy 14:14, 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 17:4, 1 Kings 17:6, Job 38:41, Psalm 147:9, Proverbs 30:17, Song of Solomon 5:11, Isaiah 34:11, Luke 12:24. God sends ravens to feed the prophet Elijah in book of 1 Kings 17:1. In the New Testament
Jesus tells a parable using the raven to show how people should rely on God for their needs and not riches. See Luke 12:24.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird. Found across the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
. There are at least eight subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
with little variation in appearance— although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed Raven
Thick-billed Raven
The Thick-billed Raven , a Corvid from the Horn of Africa, shares with the Common Raven the distinction of being the largest in the Corvid family, and indeed the largest of the bird order Passeriformes . They measure 60-64 cm in length and weigh 1.5 kg...
, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the Common Raven averages 63 cm (25 inches) in length and 1.2 kg (2.6 pounds
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
). Common Ravens typically live about 10 to 15 years in the wild, although lifespans of up to 40 years have been recorded. Young birds may travel in flocks, but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.
The Common Raven has coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas has been so numerous that it is considered a pest. Part of its success comes from its omnivorous
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
diet; Common Ravens are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste.
Some remarkable feats of problem-solving have been observed in the species, leading to the belief that it is highly intelligent
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
. Over the centuries, it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature
Cultural depictions of ravens
There are many references to ravens in legends and literature. Most of these refer to the widespread common raven. Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven has long been considered a bird of ill omen and of interest to creators of myths and legends.-Symbolism:The...
. In many indigenous cultures, including those of Scandinavia
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, ancient Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, the northwest coast of North America
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
, and Siberia
Indigenous peoples of Siberia
Including the Russian Far East, the population of Siberia numbers just above 40 million people.As a result of the 17th to 19th century Russian conquest of Siberia and the subsequent population movements during the Soviet era, the demographics of Siberia today is dominated by native speakers of...
and northeast Asia, the Common Raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or god.
Taxonomy
The Common Raven was one of the many species originally described by LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae
Systema Naturae
The book was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carolus Linnaeus. The first edition was published in 1735...
, and it still bears its original name of Corvus corax. It is the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
of the genus Corvus, derived from the Latin for "Raven". The specific epithet, corax/κοραξ, is the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
word for "raven" or "crow". The name "raven" has been applied to several other (generally large) species of the genus Corvus, though they are not necessarily closely related to Corvus corax. Some, such as the Australian Raven
Australian Raven
The Australian Raven is the largest Australian member of the genus Corvus and one of three Australian species commonly known as ravens. It is a more slender bird than the Common Raven of the Northern Hemisphere but is otherwise similar...
and Forest Raven
Forest Raven
The Forest Raven is a large species of the crow genus native to south-eastern Australia and Tasmania.-Description:The Forest Raven is 50–52 cm in length with glossy black plumage and a white iris. It has a proportionately larger bill and shorter tail than the other mainland corvid species and...
, are clearly closer to the other Australian crows. The original raven is now called the Common or Northern Raven.
The modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, including Old Norse hrafn and Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
(h)raban, all which descend from Proto-Germanic *khrabanas. An old Scottish
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
word corby or corbie, akin to the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
corbeau, has been used for both this bird and the Carrion Crow
Carrion Crow
The Carrion Crow is a member of the passerine order of birds and the crow family which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia.-Taxonomy:...
.
Obsolete collective nouns for a group of ravens (or at least the Common Raven) include "unkindness" and "conspiracy". In practice, most people use the more generic "flock".
Classification
The closest relatives of the Common Raven are the Brown-necked RavenBrown-necked Raven
The Brown-necked Raven is a larger bird than the Carrion Crow though not as large as the Common Raven. It has similar proportions to the common raven but the bill is not so large or deep and the wings tend to be a little more pointed in profile...
(C. ruficollis) and the Pied Crow
Pied Crow
The Pied Crow is a widely distributed African bird species in the crow genus.Structurally, the Pied Crow is better thought of as a small crow-sized Raven, especially as it can hybridise with the Somali Crow where their ranges meet in the Horn of Africa...
(C. albus) of Africa, and the Chihuahuan Raven
Chihuahuan Raven
The Chihuahuan Raven , is a species of bird in the family Corvidae that is native to the United States and Mexico. It was formerly known as the American White-necked Raven, and has the proportions of a Common Raven with a heavy bill, but is about the same size as a Carrion Crow, or slightly larger...
(C. cryptoleucus) of the North American southwest. While some authorities recognized as many as 11 subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
, others only recognize eight:
- C. c. corax (the nominate subspecies) occurs from Europe eastwards to Lake BaikalLake BaikalLake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
, south to the CaucasusCaucasusThe Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
region and northern IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. It has a relatively short, arched bill. The population in south-western Europe (including the Balearic IslandsBalearic IslandsThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, CorsicaCorsicaCorsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and SardiniaSardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
) has an even more arched bill and shorter wings than "typical" nominate, leading some authorities to recognize it as a separate subspecies, C. c. hispanus. - C. c. varius occurs in IcelandIcelandIceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and the Faroe IslandsFaroe IslandsThe Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
. It is less glossy than C. c. principalis or nominate corax, is intermediate in size, and the bases of its neck feathers are whitish (not visible at a distance). An extinct color morphPolymorphism (biology)Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
found only on the Faroes is known as Pied RavenPied RavenThe Pied Raven was a colour morph of the North Atlantic subspecies of the Common Raven which was only found on the Faroe Islands and has disappeared since the mid twentieth century. It had large areas of white feathering, most frequently on the head, the wings and the belly, and its beak was light...
- C. c. subcorax occurs from Greece eastwards to north-west India, Central AsiaCentral AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and western China though not the HimalayanHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
region. It is larger than the nominate form, but has relatively short throat feathers (hackles). Its plumage is generally all black, though its neck and breast have a brownish tone similar to that of the Brown-necked Raven; this more evident when the plumage is worn. The bases of its neck feathers, although somewhat variable in colour, are often almost whitish. (The name C. c. laurencei is sometimes used instead of C. c. subcorax. It is based on the population from SindhSindhSindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
described by HumeAllan Octavian HumeAllan Octavian Hume was a civil servant, political reformer and amateur ornithologist in British India. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, a political party that was later to lead the Indian independence movement...
in 1873 and is sometimes preferred since the type specimen of subcorax collected by Nikolai Severtzov is possibly a Brown-necked RavenBrown-necked RavenThe Brown-necked Raven is a larger bird than the Carrion Crow though not as large as the Common Raven. It has similar proportions to the common raven but the bill is not so large or deep and the wings tend to be a little more pointed in profile...
) - C. c. tingitanus occurs in North Africa and the Canary IslandsCanary IslandsThe Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. It is the smallest subspecies, with the shortest throat hackles and a distinctly oily plumage gloss. Its bill is short but markedly stout, and the culmen is strongly arched. Canary Ravens are browner than the North African Ravens, leading some authorities to treat them as separate subspecies, with the latter maintaining the name C. c. tingitanus and the former known as C. c. canariensis. - C. c. tibetanus occurs in the Himalayas. It is the largest and glossiest subspecies, with the longest throat hackles. Its bill is large but less imposing than that of C. c. principalis, and the bases of its neck feathers are grey.
- C. c. kamtschaticus occurs in north-eastern Asia, intergrading into the nominate subspecies in the BaikalLake BaikalLake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
region. It is intermediate in size between C. c. principalis and C. c. corax and has a distinctly larger and thicker bill than does the nominate race. - C. c. principalis occurs in northern North America and GreenlandGreenlandGreenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. It has a large body and the largest bill, its plumage is strongly glossed, and its throat hackles are well developed. - C. c. sinuatus, the Western Raven, occurs in south-central USA and Central America. It is smaller, with a smaller and narrower bill than C. c. principalis. Populations in far south-western USA and north-western Mexico (including the Revillagigedo IslandsRevillagigedo IslandsThe Revillagigedo Islands or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem...
) are the smallest in North America. They are sometimes included in C. c. sinuatus, while other authorities recognize them as a distinct subspecies, C. c. clarionensis.
Evolutionary history
The Common Raven evolved in the Old WorldOld World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
and crossed the Bering land bridge
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
into North America. Recent genetic studies, which examined the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
of Common Ravens from across the world, have determined that the birds fall into at least two clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
s: a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
clade, found only in the southwestern United States, and a Holarctic
Holarctic
The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...
clade, found across the rest of the northern hemisphere. Birds from both clades look alike, but the groups are genetically distinct and began to diverge about two million years ago.
The findings indicate that based on mitochondrial DNA, Common Ravens from the rest of the United States are more closely related to those in Europe and Asia than to those in the California clade, and that Common Ravens in the California clade are more closely related to the Chihuahuan Raven
Chihuahuan Raven
The Chihuahuan Raven , is a species of bird in the family Corvidae that is native to the United States and Mexico. It was formerly known as the American White-necked Raven, and has the proportions of a Common Raven with a heavy bill, but is about the same size as a Carrion Crow, or slightly larger...
(C. cryptoleucus) than to those in the Holarctic clade. Ravens in the Holarctic clade are more closely related to the Pied Crow
Pied Crow
The Pied Crow is a widely distributed African bird species in the crow genus.Structurally, the Pied Crow is better thought of as a small crow-sized Raven, especially as it can hybridise with the Somali Crow where their ranges meet in the Horn of Africa...
(C. albus) than they are to the California clade. Thus, the Common Raven species as traditionally delimited is considered to be paraphyletic.
One explanation for these surprising genetic findings is that Common Ravens settled in California at least two million years ago and became separated from their relatives in Europe and Asia during an ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. One million years ago, a group from the California clade evolved into a new species, the Chihuahuan Raven. Other members of the Holarctic clade arrived later in a separate migration from Asia, perhaps at the same time as humans.
A recent study of raven mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
showed that the isolated population from the Canary Islands is distinct from other populations. The study did not include any individuals from the North African population, and its position is therefore unclear, though its morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
is very close to the population of the Canaries (to the extent that the two are often considered part of a single subspecies).
Description
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
of 100 to 150 cm (40 to 59 in). Recorded weights range from 0.69 to 2 kg (1.5 to 4.4 lb), thus making the Common Raven one of the heaviest passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
s. Birds from colder regions such as the Himalayas and Greenland are generally larger with slightly larger bills, while those from warmer regions are smaller with proportionally smaller bills. The bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
is large and slightly curved. It has a longish, strongly graduated tail, mostly black iridescent plumage, and a dark brown iris
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
. The throat feathers are elongated and pointed and the bases of the neck feathers are pale brownish-grey. Juvenile plumage is similar but duller with a blue-grey iris.
Apart from its greater size, the Common Raven differs from its cousins, the crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s, by having a larger and heavier, black beak, shaggy feathers around the throat and above the beak, and a wedge-shaped tail. The species has a distinctive, deep, resonant prruk-prruk-prruk call, which to experienced listeners is unlike that of any other corvid. Its very wide and complex vocabulary includes a high, knocking toc-toc-toc, a dry, grating kraa, a low guttural rattle and some calls of an almost musical nature. In flight the feathers produce a creaking sound that has been likened to the rustle of silk.
Common Ravens can be very long-lived, especially in captive or protected conditions; individuals at the Tower of London
Ravens of the Tower of London
The ravens of the Tower of London are a group of captive Common Ravens which live in the Tower of London. The group of ravens at the Tower comprises at least seven individuals...
have lived for more than 40 years. Lifespans in the wild are considerably shorter: typically only 10 to 15 years. The longest known lifespan of a banded
Bird ringing
Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...
wild Common Raven was 23 years, 3 months.
Distribution and habitat
Holarctic
The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...
from Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
and temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
habitats in North America and Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
to the deserts of North Africa, and to islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, they are more common in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, northern England and the west of Ireland. In Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, they have been recorded at altitudes up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft), and as high as 6,350 m (20,600 ft) on Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
. The population sometimes known as the Punjab Raven — described as Corvus corax laurencei (also spelt lawrencii or laurencii) by Allan Octavian Hume
Allan Octavian Hume
Allan Octavian Hume was a civil servant, political reformer and amateur ornithologist in British India. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, a political party that was later to lead the Indian independence movement...
but more often considered synonymous with subcorax — is restricted to the Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
district of Pakistan and adjoining regions of northwestern India.
Except in Arctic habitats, they are generally resident within their range for the whole year. Young birds may disperse locally.
In the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
a now extinct colour-morph of this species existed, known as the Pied Raven
Pied Raven
The Pied Raven was a colour morph of the North Atlantic subspecies of the Common Raven which was only found on the Faroe Islands and has disappeared since the mid twentieth century. It had large areas of white feathering, most frequently on the head, the wings and the belly, and its beak was light...
.
Most Common Ravens prefer wooded areas, with large expanses of open land nearby, or coastal regions for their nesting sites and feeding grounds. In some areas of dense human population, such as California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the United States, they take advantage of a plentiful food supply and have seen a surge in their numbers.
Behaviour
Common Ravens usually travel in mated pairs, although young birds may form flocksFlock (birds)
A flock is a group of birds conducting flocking behavior in flight, or while foraging. The term is akin to the herd amongst mammals. The benefits of aggregating in flocks are varied and flocks will form explicitly for specific purposes...
. Relationships between Common Ravens are often quarrelsome, yet they demonstrate considerable devotion to their families.
Diet
Serendipity
Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its...
. For example, those foraging on tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
on the Arctic North Slope of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
obtained about half their energy needs from predation, mainly of microtine rodents
Microtus
The genus Microtus is a group of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. There are 62 species in the genus....
, and half by scavenging, mainly of caribou and ptarmigan carcasses.
Scavenger
Scavenging is both a carnivorous and herbivorous feeding behavior in which individual scavengers search out dead animal and dead plant biomass on which to feed. The eating of carrion from the same species is referred to as cannibalism. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by...
s, feeding on carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
as well as the associated maggots and carrion beetle
Carrion beetle
Silphidae is a family of beetles that are known commonly as carrion or burying beetles. There are two subfamilies: Silphinae and Nicrophorinae. Both families feed on decaying organic matter such as dead animals. The families differ in which uses parental care and which types of carcasses they prefer...
s. Plant food includes cereal grains
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
, berries and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
. They prey on small invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, amphibians, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, small mammals and birds. Ravens may also consume the undigested portions of animal feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
, and human food waste
Food waste
Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost uneaten. As of 2011, 1.3 billion tons of food, about one third of the global food production, are lost or wasted annually. Loss and wastage occurs on all steps in the food supply chain...
. They store surplus food items, especially those containing fat, and will learn to hide such food out of the sight of other Common Ravens. Ravens also raid the food caches of other species, such as the Arctic Fox
Arctic fox
The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...
. They sometimes associate with another canine, the Grey Wolf, as a kleptoparasite, following to scavenge wolf-kills in winter. Ravens are regular predators at bird nests and are considered a threat to the nesting success of the endangered California Condor
California Condor
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and coastal mountains of central and southern California and northern Baja California...
.
Due to its size, gregariousness and its defensive abilities, the Common Raven has few natural predators. Predators of its eggs include owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, marten
Marten
The martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae.-Description:Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large...
s, and other ravens. Ravens are quite vigorous at defending their young and are usually successful at driving off perceived threats, including passing humans. There are records of predation by Golden Eagle
Golden Eagle
The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
s, with which ravens overlap considerably in range across the Northern Hemisphere. The Eurasian Eagle Owl
Eurasian Eagle Owl
The Eurasian Eagle-Owl is a species of eagle owl resident in much of Eurasia. It is also one of the largest types of owls.-Description:The Eagle Owl is a large and powerful bird, smaller than the Golden Eagle but larger than the Snowy Owl...
and the Great Horned Owl
Great Horned Owl
The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...
have been recorded as grabbing ravens off of their nocturnal perches. Due to the fact that they are potential hazardous prey for raptorial birds, raptors usually must take them by surprise and most attacks are on fledgling ravens. Rarely, large mammalian predators such as lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
es, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, and cougars have attacked ravens. This principally occurs at a nest site and when other prey for the carnivores are scarce. Due to such predators, ravens are highly wary around novel carrion sites and, in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, have been recorded waiting for American Crow
American Crow
The American Crow is a large passerine bird species of the family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America...
s and Blue Jay
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to North America. It is resident through most of eastern and central United States and southern Canada, although western populations may be migratory. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common near and in...
s to approach carrion first before they themselves move in.
Common Ravens nesting near sources of human garbage
Food waste
Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost uneaten. As of 2011, 1.3 billion tons of food, about one third of the global food production, are lost or wasted annually. Loss and wastage occurs on all steps in the food supply chain...
included a higher percentage of food waste in their diet, birds nesting near roads consumed more road-killed
Roadkill
Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by motor vehicles. In the United States of America, removal and disposal of animals struck by motor vehicles is usually the responsibility of the state's state trooper association or department of transportation.-History:During the...
vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s, and those nesting far from these sources of food ate more arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and plant material. Fledging success was higher for those using human garbage as a food source. In contrast, a 1984-1986 study of Common Raven diet in an agricultural region of south-western Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
found that cereal grains were the principal constituent of pellet
Pellet (ornithology)
A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth...
s, though small mammals, grasshoppers, cattle carrion and birds were also eaten.
One behavior is recruitment, where juvenile ravens call other ravens to a food bonanza, usually a carcass, with a series of loud yells. In Ravens in Winter, Bernd Heinrich
Bernd Heinrich
Bernd Heinrich, Ph.D , is a professor emeritus in the biology department at the University of Vermont and is the author of a number of books about nature writing, behavior, biology, ecology, and evolution. Heinrich has made major contributions to the study of insect physiology and behavior, as...
posited that this behavior evolved to allow the juveniles to outnumber the resident adults, thus allowing them to feed on the carcass without being chased away. A more mundane explanation is that individuals co-operate in sharing information about carcasses of large mammals because they are too big for just a few birds to exploit. Experiments with baits however show that such recruitment behaviour is independent of the size of the bait.
Breeding
Breeding pairs must have a territory of their own before they begin nest-building and reproduction, and thus aggressively defend a territory and its food resources. Nesting territories vary in size according to the density of food resources in the area. The nest is a deep bowl made of large sticks and twigs, bound with an inner layer of roots, mud, and bark and lined with a softer material, such as deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
fur. The nest is usually placed in a large tree or on a cliff ledge, or less frequently in old buildings or utility poles.
Females lay between three to seven pale bluish-green, brown-blotched eggs. Incubation is about 18 to 21 days, by the female only. However, the male may stand or crouch over the young, sheltering but not actually brooding them. Young fledge
Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...
at 35 to 42 days, and are fed by both parents. They stay with their parents for another six months after fledging.
In most of their range, egg laying begins in late February. In colder climates, it is later, e.g. April in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. In Pakistan, egg-laying takes place in December. Eggs and hatchlings are rarely preyed on by large hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s and eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
s, large owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, marten
Marten
The martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae.-Description:Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large...
s and canids. The adults, which are very rarely predated, are often successful in defending their young from these predators, due to their numbers, large size and cunning. They have been observed dropping stones on potential predators that venture close to their nests.
Vocalization
Like other corvids, Ravens can mimic sounds from their environment, including human speech. They have a wide range of vocalizations, which remain an object of interest to ornithologists. Gwinner carried out important studies in the early 1960s, recording and photographing his findings in great detail.Fifteen to 30 categories of vocalization have been recorded for this species, most of which are used for social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
interaction. Calls recorded include alarm calls, chase calls, and flight calls. Non-vocal sounds produced by the Common Raven include wing whistles and bill snapping. Clapping or clicking has been observed more often in females than in males. If a member of a pair is lost, its mate reproduces the calls of its lost partner to encourage its return.
Intelligence
The brains of Common Ravens count among the largest of any bird species. Specifically, their hyperpallium is large (see avian pallium
Avian pallium
In the anatomy of animals, an avian pallium is the dorsal telencephalon of a bird's brain. The subpallium is the ventral telencephalon.The pallium of avian species tends to be relatively large, comprising ~75% of the telencephalic volume...
). For a bird, they display ability in problem solving, as well as other cognitive processes such as imitation
Imitation
Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics.-Anthropology and social sciences:...
and insight
Insight phenomenology
When people solve, or attempt to solve an insight puzzle, they experience a common phenomenology, that is, a set of behavioural properties that accompany problem-solving activity...
.
One experiment designed to evaluate insight and problem-solving ability involved a piece of meat attached to a string hanging from a perch. To reach the food, the bird needed to stand on the perch, pull the string up a little at a time, and step on the loops to gradually shorten the string. Four of five Common Ravens eventually succeeded, and "the transition from no success (ignoring the food or merely yanking at the string) to constant reliable access (pulling up the meat) occurred with no demonstrable trial-and-error learning." This supports the hypothesis that Common Ravens are 'inventors'; that is, they have the ability to solve problems presented to them. Many of the Common Raven's problem-solving skills were formerly thought to be instinctive, but it is becoming clear that Common Ravens are actually quite intelligent.
Common Ravens have been observed to manipulate others into doing work for them, such as by calling wolves and coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s to the site of dead animals. The canines open the carcass, making it more accessible to the birds. They watch where other Common Ravens bury their food and remember the locations of each other's food caches, so they can steal from them. This type of theft occurs so regularly that Common Ravens will fly extra distances from a food source to find better hiding places for food. They have also been observed pretending to make a cache without actually depositing the food, presumably to confuse onlookers.
Neophobia
Neophobia is the fear of new things or experiences. It is also called cainotophobia.In psychology, neophobia is defined as the persistent and abnormal fear of anything new. In its milder form, it can manifest as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine...
.
Playful behavior
In recent years, biologists have recognized that birds engage in playPlay (activity)
Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
. Juvenile Common Ravens are among the most playful of bird species. They have been observed to slide down snowbanks, apparently purely for fun. They even engage in games with other species, such as playing catch-me-if-you-can with wolves and dogs. Common Ravens are known for spectacular aerobatic displays, such as flying in loops or interlocking talons with each other in flight.
They are also one of only a few species who make their own toys. They have been observed breaking off twigs to play with socially.
Conservation and management
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. In some parts of their range, there have been localised declines due to habitat loss and direct persecution. Compared to many smaller Corvus
Corvus
Corvus may refer to:* Corvus , the crows and ravens* Corvus * Corvus , a weapon used on Roman ships during the First Punic War* Marcus Valerius Corvus, a 4th-century BC Roman...
species (such as American Crow
American Crow
The American Crow is a large passerine bird species of the family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America...
), ravens prefer undisturbed montane or forest habitat or rural areas over urban areas. In other areas, their numbers have increased dramatically and they have become agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
pests. Common Ravens can cause damage to crops, such as nuts and grain, or can harm livestock, particularly by killing young goat kids
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
, lambs
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
and calves
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
. Ravens generally attack the faces of young livestock, but the more common Raven behavior of scavenging may be misidentified as predation by ranchers.
In the western Mojave desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
, human settlement and land development have led to an estimated 16-fold increase in the Common Raven population over 25 years. Towns, landfills, sewage treatment plants and artificial ponds create sources of food and water for scavenging birds. Ravens also find nesting sites in utility poles and ornamental trees, and are attracted to roadkill on highways. The explosion in the Common Raven population in the Mojave has raised concerns for the desert tortoise
Desert Tortoise
The desert tortoise is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. They can be located in western Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah. The species name agassizii is in honor of...
, a threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
. Common Ravens prey upon juvenile tortoises, which have soft shells and are slow-moving. Plans to control the population have included shooting and trapping birds, as well as contacting landfill operators to ask that they reduce the amount of exposed garbage. A hunting bounty as a method of control was historically used in Finland from the mid-18th century until 1923. Culling has taken place to a limited extent in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, where the population increase in Common Ravens is threatening the vulnerable Steller's Eider
Steller's Eider
The Steller's Eider is a medium-large sea duck that breeds along the Arctic coasts of eastern Siberia and Alaska. The lined nest is built on tundra close to the sea, and 6-10 eggs are laid....
(Polysticta stelleri).
Cultural depictions
In many post-conversion Western tradition
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
s, ravens have long been considered to be birds of ill omen and death, in part because of the negative symbolism of their all-black plumage and the eating of carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
. In Sweden, ravens are known as the ghosts of murdered people, and in Germany as the souls of the damned. In Danish folklore
Danish folklore
Danish folklore consists of folk tales, legends, songs, music, dancing, popular beliefs and traditions comuminicated by the inhabitants of towns and villages across the country, often passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. As in neighbouring countries, interest in folklore grew...
, valravn
Valravn
In Danish folklore, a valravn is a supernatural raven. The ravens appear in traditional Danish folksongs, where they are described as originating from ravens who consume the bodies of the dead on the battlefield, as capable of turning into the form of a knight after consuming the heart of a child,...
e that ate a king's heart gained human knowledge, could perform great malicious acts, could lead people astray, had superhuman powers, and were "terrible animals".
As in traditional mythology and folklore, the Common Raven features frequently in more modern writings such as the works of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, and, perhaps most famously, in the poem "The Raven
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness...
" by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. Ravens have appeared in the works of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, and Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken
Joan Delano Aiken MBE was an English novelist. She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, American poet Conrad Aiken , her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge and her brother John Aiken Joan Delano Aiken MBE (4 September 1924 – 4 January 2004) was an English novelist....
among others.
It continues to be used as a symbol in areas where it once had mythological status: as the National Bird of Bhutan, Official Bird of the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
territory, and on the Coat of Arms of the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
(once a Viking colony).
The Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
have had a raven named "Poe" as their official mascot since the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
relocated in 1995.
The modern unisex given name Raven
Raven (given name)
Raven, , is a unisex given name in the English language. In the United States of America, the name is more commonly used as a feminine name, and has ranked amongst the top 1,000 feminine names given to baby girls since 1977.-Etymology and related names:...
is derived from the English word "raven". As a masculine name, Raven parallels the Old Norse Hrafn
Hrafn
Hrafn is both a masculine byname, and personal name in Old Norse. The name translates into English as "raven". The Old English form of the name is *Hræfn...
, and Old English *Hræfn, which were both bynames and personal names.
Mythology
Many indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest CoastIndigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
of North America and northeast Asia
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
revered it as a god
Raven (mythology)
Ravens are common characters in the traditional narratives and mythology around the world, notably a part of North American, Siberian, Norse mythology and Celtic mythology...
. In Tlingit and Haida cultures
Haida mythology
The Haida are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their national territories lie along the west coast of Canada and include parts of south east Alaska....
, Raven was both a Trickster and Creator god. Related beliefs are widespread among the peoples of Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and northeast Asia. The Kamchatka peninsula
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
, for example, was supposed to have been created by the raven god Kutkh
Kutkh
Kutkh , is a Raven spirit traditionally revered in various forms by various indigenous peoples of the Russian Far East. Kutkh appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile ancestor of mankind, as a mighty shaman and as a trickster...
. There are several references to Common Ravens in the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and it is an aspect of Mahakala
Mahakala
Mahākāla is a Dharmapala in Vajrayana Buddhism, and a deity in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, particularly in the Vajrayana school. He is known as Daheitian in Chinese and Daikokuten in Japanese...
in Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
ese mythology.
In Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, Huginn (from Old Norse "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory"or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard
Midgard
Midgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is an old Germanic name for our world and is the home of Humans, with the literal meaning "middle enclosure".-Etymology:...
, and bring the god Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
information. Additionally among the Norse, Raven banner
Raven banner
The raven banner was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries A.D...
standards were carried by such figures as the Jarls of Orkney
Earl of Orkney
The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
, King Canute the Great
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
of England, Norway and Denmark, and Harald Hardrada. In the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, ravens also were symbolic to the Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s. In Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
, the goddess Morrígan
Morrígan
The Morrígan or Mórrígan , also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.The Morrigan is a goddess...
alighted on the hero Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
's shoulder in the form of a raven after his death. In Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
they were associated with the Welsh god Bran the Blessed
Bran the Blessed
Brân the Blessed is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen ferch Llŷr. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien...
, whose name translates to "raven." According to the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
, Bran's head was buried in the White Hill of London as a talisman against invasion.
Tower of London
A legend developed that England would not fall to a foreign invader so long as there were ravens at the Tower of LondonTower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
; although this is often thought to be an ancient belief, the official Tower of London historian, Geoff Parnell, believes that this is actually a romantic Victorian invention.
Christianity
In the Judeo-ChristianJudeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
tradition, the raven was the first animal to be released from Noah's ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
. "6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground." Genesis 8:6-8 NKJV. In Christianity the raven appears throughout the Bible in twelve different verses. Genesis 8:7, Leviticus 11:15, Deuteronomy 14:14, 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 17:4, 1 Kings 17:6, Job 38:41, Psalm 147:9, Proverbs 30:17, Song of Solomon 5:11, Isaiah 34:11, Luke 12:24. God sends ravens to feed the prophet Elijah in book of 1 Kings 17:1. In the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
Jesus tells a parable using the raven to show how people should rely on God for their needs and not riches. See Luke 12:24.
Further reading
- Heinrich, B. (1999). Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. New York: Cliff Street Books. ISBN 978-0-06-093063-9
External links
- PBS Nature: Ravens
- RSPB: Raven
- Beringia South Raven Research
- Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Species Account
- Common Raven Information and Photos on South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Common Raven videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta
- ARKive images
- Encyclopedia of Life