Enviro-Stuffities: Ravens
Even if there are almost 100 bird species registered as residents in Iceland and some of them so incredible as the Puffin (Fratercula arctica), Artic tern (Sterna paradisaea) or Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus), I would like to point out about a well-known and also unknown species:Ravens
Yeah, Ravens, common, black, noisy and perturbing? Nothing new under the sky.
These NO little bastards are all mornings visiting me in the South of Iceland, next to Hvolsvöllur. They look like big bearer of ominous tidings, conspiring against me in the top of the roof. If somebody tell you "Raven" probably the first thought you´ll have is a disquieting black bird in a branch,next to an old and worn house surrounded by devastated landscape, squawking bad words to the world, but in fact:
What do we know about them?
First of all, what is a raven? Yes, a bird, you are right, great!
Now seriously, Ravens- with the fantastic latin name of Corvus corax, which literally means rude battering ram-belong to the family of oscine passerines birds known as Corvidae, which has more than 120 species around the world, some of them are Magpies, Crows, Ravens or Jackdaws. This family is important because is one of the most intelligent in the animal´s world. What about if I tell you that only 10 animals (including humans) in the world can recognise themselves in a mirror? Actually, magpies (close-related to Ravens) are the only birds able to pass "The Test of self-awareness" (unique non-mammal represent of this top 10 list ). It´s quite impressive, isn´t it?
Moreover, the brains of these birds are working so well that they have been recognised as one of the four animals (bees, ants and humans are the others) in the world able to develop "linguistic displacement abilities". What the hell is that? Well, this is something that we should ask to Derek Bickerton and Eörs Szathmáry. They have demonstrated that ravens go back to look for their buddies when they find big pieces of food in their scavenger activities in order to share the delicacies.They can even call for wolves to facilitate the work for them when they discover a new prey: Wolves open the carcass and ravens enjoy the banquet . That means that they can cooperate with each other developing intraspecific language and they are also smart enough to "ask" for help to other animals. They almost sound like humans!
1.- Picture description of Raven. It ranges between 54-67 cm long, wingspan of 115 to 130 cm and weights from 0.7-2 kg. The bill is slightly curved and could measure 8 cm, it is commonly larger in colder regions such as Himalaya or Greenland. Collins Bird Guide (Svensson et al., 2009)
They are almost everywhere, extending their distributions from Holartic and Artic areas, North America, Eurasia, some areas in North Africa or even Pacific Islands. Despite this huge distribution all over the world, they are not migrants, settled down as residents in the habitats where they are born. Ravens are extremely loyal, once they make a successful courtship they tend to be paired and nest for the rest of their life with the same partner- so romantic...
But anyway, one of the most famous aspect is their diet: They´re Scavengers. It means that they eat dead animals. That´s a really important task, even if it looks like horrible, disgusting or nasty. It is one of the most important ecosystem services provided by nature, the ability to "clean" the fields. Actually, in India the population of another famous scavenger, the vulture, star to decline due to few human direct and indirect activities. This implied that vultures almost disappeared and their place was taken by dogs and rats, eating dead animals and spreading diseases. This simple fact caused the death of 50,000 people and an estimated cost of 3-34$ billion [4].
2.- Aerial photo of a wolf eating an elk and magpies and ravens waiting for their turn. Photo of Daniel Stahler [5]
Which is the status of ravens in Iceland?
Returning to the beginning, we all have in mind bad feelings or sensations when we see a raven. Why is like that? In fact, majority religions such as Christians or Islam have co-related ravens with dead- They were present when Jesus was crucified, eating the eyes of one of the thieves, or Allah sending a raven to show how to adequately bury a dead body. Then, it´s quite normal that we don´t trust on them, but fortunately, Icelandic tradition is different!
Norse culture is full of references to ravens, as they used to be a symbol of wisdom and prophecy. In fact, Odin was flanked by two ravens: Huginn and Munnin and they were his eyes and ears in the world, so imagine the importance of these two birds! But with the arrival of Christians, these kind of references were considered as paganism and evicted from the popular imagination. But something reminds in Icelandic people because Ravens are almost considered as the national bird, It is used as a symbol by Icelandic Institute of Natural History [6].
The status of ravens in Iceland has been deeply analysed, in 1990 Skarphedinsson and his colleagues accepted the incredible mission of analyse the entire ecology of ravens in Iceland [7]. Can you imagine cover the whole area of Iceland looking for ravens? They did it and they found out some curious points. Ravens were indiscriminately prosecuted during 70´s and 80´s by intensive control programmes driven by Wildlife Damage Control Unit.The estimation is around 4,116 ravens kill/year, if you start to count numbers become crazy! Even more, their main distribution area is in the lowlands, next to the seaside, it seems that they don´t like so much the inland weather. The estimated population by that date was about 2,000 nesting pairs and nowadays is supposed to be around 2,500, but their number increase in autumn ´till 12,000-15,000. According to the IUCN, raven is considered as Least Concerned [8], but in Iceland now it is considered as Vulnerable and it is included in the Icelandic Red List of Birds [9]. Undoubtedly, that´s a great step for raven´s conservation!
So, next time you see a Raven, don´t be afraid and remember that they can hear what you are saying and unleash the fury of Odin!
3.- Representation of Odin enthroned and holding his spear Gungnir, flanked by his ravens Huginn and Muninn and wolves Geri and Freki (1882) by Carl Emil Doepler [10]
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