<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > preface</h1>
In many parts of our country, crows are not a beautiful symbol, "the world is as black as crows" is often used to describe bad people, "crows cry, disaster comes" is to treat them as a symbol of disaster, no one likes the house around the crow circling.
But are the crows of the world really all black? Why do crows represent disasters from ancient times to the present?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > crow represents disaster? </h1>
Crows are the most popular animal taboo in Chinese folklore, and many places think that crows are fierce birds, and when they encounter ominousness, such as the head chirping, it is a harbinger of disasters. The proverb "The crow has passed on its head, and there will be no disaster" and "the old crow cries, and the disaster will come" are all reflections of such concepts. The reason why crows have such a bad evaluation is related to their scavenger characteristics.
Crows are omnivorous birds that are voracious to death. Especially in ancient times, when the war was often too late to collect the corpses, and the crows could hover over the two armies at the beginning of the war, waiting for the war to end, so almost as soon as there was a war, there would be crows circling, which often meant a large number of deaths, and later away from the crows meant staying away from the war, and people who hated war regarded the crow as a symbol of disaster.
Then there is the fact that the crow is very sensitive to the person who is about to die, and its sense of smell is particularly sensitive, some people or animals are not dead, but he (it) has emitted a special smell, so the crow smells. In ancient times, people misunderstood it, believing that its arrival caused the death event to occur, in fact, the crow had already felt it before the death event was about to occur.
Crows are always accompanied by death, and gradually fall into people's thinking, forming the concept of crows singing and dying.
However, before the Tang Dynasty, the crow was a sacred bird with auspicious and prophetic effects in Chinese folk culture, there was a historical legend of "the crow annunciation, the beginning of Zhou Xing", Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty quoted the "Shang Shu Biography" in "Spring and Autumn Prosperity and Similar Movements": "When the Zhou Dynasty was xing, there were seeds of the Great Red Wugu Valley and gathered on the king's house, the king of Wu was happy, and all the doctors were happy." The ancient historical books "Huainanzi", "Zuo Zhuan", and "Historical Records" also have famous records of crows representing auspiciousness.
Therefore, whether people will suffer disasters or not has nothing to do with crows, they are only misunderstood by the ancients because of some living habits.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > crows are black? </h1>
There are 46 species of crows in the world, the vast majority of which are pure black, but there are several exceptions.
Thick-billed raven: Found in the Horn of Africa , the back of the head is white.
African raven: Distributed in parts of Eastern and Southern Africa, the hind neck is white.
African white-necked crow: Distributed in a large area of sub-Saharan Africa, the shoulders and abdomen are white.
White-necked crow: Distributed in eastern China, the hind neck, shoulders, and upper abdomen are white.
Small-billed crow: Distributed in a large area from Western Europe to Xinjiang in China and the northeast and north, the shoulders, back, and abdomen are grayish-white.
Sula crow: Found in Sulawesi, it is white on the back of its head, neck, chest, and abdomen.
House crow: Distributed in South Asia, the back of the head, back, thorax, and abdomen are grayish white or brown.
In Tanzania, Africa, there are three species of crows that are not all black: one is called the mottled crow, which has a white ring on its neck and white feathers on its chest; one is called the white-necked large raven, which has crescent-shaped white hairs on its neck and back, which is very beautiful; and the other is called the cloaked white-billed crow, whose mouth is white.
There are even crows in the world that are all white all over the world. On May 25, 1987, a neighbor of Shiyoshi Osawa in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, was out for a walk when he spotted a white crow in the grass beside the road, caught it and gave it to Shiyoshi Osawa. The size of this crow is no different from the black crow that people usually see, except that its feathers are snow-white, and its eyes, mouth and two claws are pink, which is very cute. It likes to eat raw fish and likes to play with water, and Osawa Keeps it at home as a treasure, and often some curious people come to visit and see this "white crow". According to ornithologists, the crow is "different" because of a mutation in its genetics. According to reports, in China's Xinjiang Altai Mountains and Hubei Shennongjia also have this kind of snow-white crow.
A few years ago, a white crow also appeared in a small village in southern India, which surprised the local residents. Not only are its feathers white, but its legs and even its mouth are snow white, and according to locals, this white crow looks very peculiar. Today, the white crow has become a local star, attracting many tourists every day.
Therefore, the crows in the world are not generally black, and these crows, which are not all black or even pure white, have borne a lot of bad reputations for their kind.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what a real crow looks like</h1>
Crows are birds with distinct strengths and weaknesses, and they are also one of the most intelligent and affectionate species of birds. "The crow feeds back, the lamb kneels" is the Confucian use of animal images in nature to educate people "filial piety" and "etiquette", so the crow's "filial piety" image is passed down for thousands of years. In the "Compendium of Materia Medica, Birds and Birds of Mercy", it is said: "This Wu is born in the first place, the mother feeds for sixty days, and the long one feeds back for sixty days, which can be described as filial piety." "The filial piety of the crow is worth learning from many people.
And the crow is a very intelligent bird, they will use branches, leaves and even their own feathers to make tools, and they can also throw stones into the water tank to make the water rise to drink water, as in Aesop's fables. Scientists have found that crows are the only birds that can identify themselves in a mirror.
In addition, the crows are very united, they are social birds, when you have something in your hand to hurt them, they will gather together to defend themselves, so that you do not hurt their kind.
But crows also have many shortcomings, although crows will prey on pests and have a certain protective effect on crops, but also when pests are insufficient, they will also peck at grain, especially in ancient times when food production was not high, this feature was disliked by people.
In modern society, crows like to accompany humans around, they often go to the city to forage during the day, return to the city at night to stay overnight, in the place where they spend the night, the ground, the car will be difficult to escape the crow's feces, making people look disgusting, but also to the city's sanitation work has brought a lot of trouble.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > conclusion</h1>
Crows are just a very common species of birds, they are intelligent and have bred on the earth for countless years, people's lives and deaths and blessings have nothing to do with them, so when you live where there are crows, you can just take it lightly.