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Home ยป Strategies of mussel dropping by Carrion Crows Corvus c. corone
Strategies of mussel dropping by Carrion Crows Corvus c. corone
Publication Type: | Journal Article |
Year of Publication: | 1990 |
Authors: | Whiteley, JD, Pritchard, JS, Slater, PJB |
Journal: | Bird Study |
Volume: | 37 |
Issue: | 1 |
Date Published: | 1990 |
ISBN Number: | 0006-3657 |
Keywords: | Corone, Corone corone, Corvidae, Corvus, Corvus cornix, Corvus corone, Corvus corone corone |
Abstract: | Carrion crows were observed dropping mussels on the mussel beds and sand of the Eden Estuary, Fife, and on the runway at the neighbouring Leuchars airfield. Crows tended to choose the largest mussels and to drop them on hard surfaces from heights which minimized the total climbing flight required to break them. They seldom gave up, in keeping with an experiment showing that the chance of a mussel breaking open does not change with the number of times it is dropped. While mussels are especially likely to break if dropped on harder surfaces, an advantage of dropping them on the mussel beds is that this may break other mussels as well as the one that is dropped.Carrion crows were observed dropping mussels on the mussel beds and sand of the Eden Estuary, Fife, and on the runway at the neighbouring Leuchars airfield. Crows tended to choose the largest mussels and to drop them on hard surfaces from heights which minimized the total climbing flight required to break them. They seldom gave up, in keeping with an experiment showing that the chance of a mussel breaking open does not change with the number of times it is dropped. While mussels are especially likely to break if dropped on harder surfaces, an advantage of dropping them on the mussel beds is that this may break other mussels as well as the one that is dropped. |
URL: | http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00063659009477031 |
Short Title: | Bird Study |
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Laurence Livermore,
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