Crow - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crow
American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Genus:	Corvus Linnaeus, 1758

Crows form the genus Corvus are in the family Corvidae. They are medium to large sized birds, carnivores and scavengers.

The genus includes the crow (carrion crow or hooded crow), the rook, jackdaw, and the large common raven. The genus has 40 or so members on all temperate continents except for South America, and some islands.

The Corvus makes up a third of the species in the Corvidae. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from corvid stock which had evolved in Australia. The collective name for a group of crows is a flock or, more poetically, a murder.^[1]

Crows will eat just about anything from insects to invertebrates to meat. They also enjoy nuts, worms, and vegetables. Crows are known for being shy around humans at first.^[2] Crows are naturally shy and wary creatures, and they prefer open areas with good visibility and safe places to perch and roost.^[3] Crows have keen eyesight.^[3] They enjoy bathing and drinking from birdbaths.^[3]

Crows such as the all-black Carrion Crow are fairly solitary, usually found alone or in pairs, although they may sometimes form flocks.^[4] This is unlike other crows such as the Rook and the Hooded Crow, which are more sociable birds.^[5][6][7]

Some crow species not only use tools but also make tools.^[8] Crows are now thought to be, with parrots, among the world's most intelligent birds.^[9]

They have a brain size (adjusted for body size) as large as some apes. The jackdaw and the European magpie have a nidopallium about the same relative size as the equivalent neocortex in chimpanzees,^[10] and significantly larger than is found in the gibbon.^[11]

A story of how a girl fed crows, and in return they brought her tiny gifts, shows what the birds are capable of.^[12][13]

Historically, the crow was believed to be a divine agent. In the Qur'an's story of Cain and Abel, a crow is mentioned as the bird whom Allah sent to teach Cain how to bury his murdered brother. It was also believed that when Alexander the Great and his army became lost in the North African desert, two crows guided them to safety.^[14]