Why Crows Gather Around Their Dead

When an American crow dies, nearby crows gather and mob around it, using the death as a warning to learn about danger.

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When an American crow dies, other crows may gather around the body and react loudly instead of simply ignoring it. Research suggests this behavior is closely tied to learning about danger. In controlled experiments, wild American crows responded strongly to dead members of their own species, including by mobbing and delaying their approach to food in places associated with the death. The response was different when the birds encountered a dead pigeon, suggesting that a dead crow carries particular information for other crows. The experiments also found that crows could associate a nearby person with danger after seeing that person close to a dead crow or a predator. They later scolded those people and could retain the association for weeks. This does not establish that crows hold funerals or understand death in the same emotional way humans do. The evidence instead supports the idea that gathering around a dead crow can help them assess risks and learn what people, predators, or places may be dangerous. The behavior is one example of the unusually flexible learning and memory abilities seen in American crows.

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