Counting Corvids Report April
This fall 30 HS students participated in a series of multi-disciplinary workshops sponsored by Vinalhaven Land Trust and PIE, examining historical, scientific and philosophical research on CROWS.
Emma Baker’s Environmental Science Class created a series of experiments investigating the Gifting Behavior of local crows. Student’s created gifting stations around town where crows were encouraged to take a gift and/or leave a gift. Gifts to the crows included various snacks and trinkets, and in return the students were gifted various pieces of plastic, shells etc.
Jasmine, Doug, Brianna and Skyler count the remaining crabs
The final experiment was designed to determine if local crows could be encouraged to eat VH’s Notorious Green Crabs!
The result: YES! Vinalhaven’s Crows will eat just about anything, including Green Crabs (if they are smaller than 4 cm in diameter). This result created a hailstorm of ideas for further exploration, namely: Could the Crows solve the crab problem? Could they help collect and mediate other environmental threats like plastic waste?
Further experiments will continue this fall in collaboration with a national Crow Box vending machine project designed by hacker Joshua Klein (www.thecrowbox.com).
In the meantime be sure to send your own reports on Gifting by Crows to the database:
Could the Crows Solve the crab problem? Of course we have many, many crabs on our island. But, the only way for the crows to take care of the crab problem, is if we keep giving them crabs around town. Usually, crows don't usually hang around at beaches and feast on tiny crabs. I think it's very neat that people are exchanging crabs for a crows gift. Possibly it could work if they became more festive for crabs and wen't to hunt for them at the beaches, but I don't think it's likely. I believe we would have to use other methods to solve our crab problem.
ReplyDeleteCould they help collect and mediate other environmental threats like plastic waste?
Crows may pick up plastic in exchange for the crab to give a gift, but giving the crows plastic waste could be a harm to themselves. They might not understand that it's not food, and end up swallowing it. Unless we exchange the crabs to dispose of the plastic that they give to us, that would make a little more sense.
Caroline, you ask some fabulous questions! I especially like your second paragraph about picking up plastic for waste for some kind of "gift." As Erica showed us with her crow coin/food vending machine, I bet this could be an alternate use for the same technique scientists are using with cross and "gifting," as you call it.
ReplyDelete