Hell, why not? Odin did it with Huginn and Muninn (who were actually ravens, but close enough), and Apollo did it as well, when crows were still white - he turned them black in retaliation for bringing him bad news (Coronis was cheating on him) that he disbelieved. When he discovered the truth, he made crows sacred.
Anyway, thanks to Neurophilosophy for the link.
US military planned using spy crows to find Osama bin LadenRead the whole post - he offers some cool research in support of crows being able to do this - probably quite easily. The video is about come research that I reported on here a couple of years ago - about the ability of crows to remember unique faces and pass that information on to their children. NEVER piss off a crow.
THE United States military funded research into using networks of 'spy crows' to locate soldiers who are missing in action, and extended the work to see if the birds might be useful in helping them to find Osama bin Laden. The idea may seem far-fetched, but unlike some military research programs (such as the Stargate remote-viewing program) it is actually based on sound science.
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3 comments:
"Hell, why not?" I'd say because human beings have no right to commandeer wild animals for our wars. Of course there is a history of doing so with intelligent species, especially with cetaceans, but the ethical issues inherent are serious. Corvids have no vested interest in our spy missions and exploiting and manipulating their instincts for our ends is highly problematic if you really believe they are intelligent beings. As a Corvid lover, I'm very, very glad this did not work out.
Hi TY,
I love corvids too - and I suspect they are not creatures who can be manipulated. If they don't want to play, they won't. Remember the Noah and the Ark story? The first bird Noah sent out to find land was a crow (or possibly a raven, can't recall), but the smart bird never came back (probably found something better to do). The not-very-smart dove came right back with an olive branch.
"I love corvids too - and I suspect they are not creatures who can be manipulated. If they don't want to play, they won't."
But I think that's the point -- we're using their natural sense of "play" to engage them in targeted assassinations, which is not something they would otherwise have any interest in. They are also risking their lives, which is something we know but they don't. It's no different than strapping a bomb to a dolphin to blow up a boat. To me, it's the height of amoral human arrogance. But I do hope if any crows are sent out on such missions, they come back with olive branches!
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