20 February 2025
Ravens have moral standards, they understand fair play, and when someone breaks their trust they refuse to deal with them again. Ravens hate a cheater.
We know this because researchers conducted a trading experiment in 2017 in which they built trust with ravens (Corvus corax). When a raven offered bread, the human gave him his favorite food, cheese.
Then one of the researchers accepted the bread but ate the cheese she was supposed to give to the raven, in effect saying, “Hah Hah Hah! Fooled you!”
The ravens were outraged! Find out what happened next in this vintage article.
p.s. Are we humans as smart as ravens when it comes to trust? Alas, some are not and the cheaters become bold.
Great article Kate…I watched a raven pair at Crooked Creek for years. I believe if we are quietly observing 1-2 they acknowledge us in their way…one year as I sat by the orange block into the control tower, one perched on it and fluffed out his throat, bowed and sort of “whistled”–I was “caught–watched them preen and court each other, copulate and their nest was under the driveway into the bldg. They had 2 young that year. I also believe all Corvids are intelligent, etc.