Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.Joshua Klein will hack anything that moves -- his list includes "social systems, computer networks, institutions, consumer hardware and animal behavior." His latest project, though charmingly low-tech, has amazing implications for the human-animal interface.
Right now, Klein is finishing up a graduate degree at NYU, while developing mobile/social apps, health care-related systems and other applications that improve people’s lives. He's the author of the novel Roo'd, which was the first modern book (after Frankenstein) to be ported to the iPhone.
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Great video. I am also fascinated by crows. The other day in my urban Los Angeles neighborhood I witnessed something unusual: a crow killing a rat on the sidewalk, literally pecking it to death. I'd never seen anything like this before and wondered if it was a normal behavior. Do crows typically kill rats for food? I was under the impression they were largely scavengers rather than predators, but am not sure. Do you have any insight, Bill?
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge, crows and ravens have been known to kill small critters for food, but usually only in the absence of "easier" food sources like scavenging.
ReplyDeleteI recently posted about ravens in England and/or Scotland and Wales that have been killing lambs and calves right after they are born -- now that is new, as far as anyone can tell, and might be due to overpopulation.
Those are my best guesses.
Peace,
Bill