Crows (and Pigeons) seem to spend a lot of time on the roads picking at the road-kill, but they invariably fly away just before a car reaches them. How do they achieve this? Is it because they only react to threats at a certain range, or can they estimate approach speed? Is it to do with the size of vehicle – in which case would they react later to a sports can than to a bus? Their road sense seems very well developed in comparison to many larger animals, such as rabbits, sheep and caravan owners.
2007-06-28 11:33:16 · 11 answers · asked by lotsmorewine 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Simple, we see in a set speed, (25 frames a second) at this rate we can understand movement, shape, colour etc.
Crows and pigeons see at a much faster rate,around the 250 mark. So they view the world in a lot faster way. this is because of how their brains work, they have very simple set up for a brain, eat, fly, have sex, eat, fly, sleep....etc. So a moving car may look like is speeding along to us but to a bird its almost in slow motion.
2007-06-28 11:40:01 · answer #1 · answered by Kickback 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Crows like most birds would only have encountered cars recently in evolutionary terms. Of course, the ability to gauge threat and react to predators would have been essential for survival for a long long time.
I imagine the skills needed to gauge how fast a fox or cat is approaching would be similar to the skills needed for coping with traffic.
They are scavengers and in that type of niche need to get the maximum from the carrion - judging the very last moment to abandon the 'meal' is probably another of those skills that such animals need to rise to the top of the natural selection pile :)
Bear in mind of course that the crows that don't get out of the way are removed from the population quickly! Crows reach sexual maturity at age 2 so there may have been 25-30 generations of crows since cars first appeared on the roads in significant numbers. Plenty of time for evolutionary affects to start to appear (just a theory)
Crows are clever birds too - they can learn quickly and can even learn by observing other crows. So it would not take long for them to figure out cars ... there may well be 'cultural' learning going on too - as well as genetic behavioural changes.
2007-06-29 03:50:01 · answer #2 · answered by DoctorBob 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They're smart, and they spend a lot of time on the road. They seem to understand how traffic works generally, and judge accordingly. You could do the same, cause you're smart. If you were standing on the road, you'd walk away when the car was coming. If you spent as much time traveling roadways looking for morsels as the average urban or highway crow, you'd get even better at it.
Additionally, you may forget they fly, so they're used to traveling 40 mph if they have to. Much faster than you, who can run like 12 mph if you have to. So all their lives they have to judge how fast they are approaching a tree, etc.
Many other animals only encounter the road when they need to cross it, and they evidently don't understand how traffic works.
2007-06-29 02:39:08 · answer #3 · answered by Strix 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Crows are very good at avoiding vehicles coming at them. Although once I came across a couple in the middle of the road 'talking' to each other, one was so distracted that I hit it doing only 40km/h. This will probably be the first and only time I'll accidentally hit a crow.
I checked it out for disease etc and it was in excellent condition. Just like people they sometimes walk across the road without looking even though they have much better reaction times.
2007-06-28 18:56:00 · answer #4 · answered by gnypetoscincus 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Thats funny. I like how crows will drop a walnut or something in the road right where a car would run it over, and then return to eat it.
2007-06-28 18:38:17 · answer #5 · answered by mistalina 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They are not doing math in their head, if that's what you're asking. They do, however, react to speed, size, and the noise of an approaching object.
That being said, if you were tearing down the highway at 250 mph, I don't think a bird could get out of the way fast enough.
2007-06-28 18:42:40 · answer #6 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't know about crows, but I know caravan owners are a species unto themselves. They , however, normally fail to move out of the way...
2007-06-28 18:38:43 · answer #7 · answered by stevielc 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not all the crows make it away safely. The alert ones do.
Crows are not completely stupid, give them some credit.
2007-06-28 18:46:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't know but they arn't very good at it. That's why they are eating a dead crow or pigeon.
2007-07-01 11:27:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Crows yell out to each other. They say "Car! Car!"
2007-06-28 18:40:48 · answer #10 · answered by johnusmaximus1 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋