Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, USA, is known for its many steep peaks and alpine highways. Here, strong afternoon winds blow steep cliffs, creating strong updrafts. For the local ravens, the gusts of wind coming from the canyon seem to be the order for the game to start, just as surfers at sea spotted big waves. Similar to humans, ravens cannot resist the joy and temptation of play. Ravens seem to be born with the wind, and in the face of nature's energetic breath, they will swoop, chase, roll, fight and chirp in the wind. For the ravens, the stronger the wind, the happier they are. As long as the wind does not stop, they rarely stop to rest.
On a windy day in October 1999, a group of eight ravens took the frolic in the wind to a higher level. I saw two ravens each grasp a concave curved bark about 2 centimeters thick, and use the wind blowing under their feet to play with the air skateboard. They spread their wings in the air, but instead of flapping, they clutched the plank tightly with their 8 toes, making it perpendicular to their bodies, like driving a ski, so that the descent was not too fast. The bark is about 4 cm wide and 25 cm long, and the two ravens constantly adjust the angle of the bark surfboard to the wind, sometimes rising, sometimes flying flat, sometimes falling, sometimes changing direction, gliding along the valley.
They rose to a height of 15 meters by the wind, completely oblivious to the crowd below and their exclamations. When the two ravens surf in the wind are over, the ravens gather to chase each other, and the other ravens try to steal the planks and then take turns to have fun.
Emily and George Langkins were completely captivated by the raven's performance, remaining motionless for more than an hour until the ravens flew down the valley in droves after the performance and returned to the nocturnal land.
For the Rankins family, the Raven's Windswept Surf show became a highlight of their fall trip that year and a memorable memory in their hearts.
Sky skateboarding has become a daily routine for local ravens, and can we really call this "play"? The answer is yes! Decades ago, most scientists ridiculed the concept of "animal play," especially for animals other than monkeys, chimpanzees, and great apes. But today, scientists' research on animal play is very common, involving many animals such as birds, turtles, octopuses and insects, and looking at the origin, function, evolution, and neural basis of animal play.
For the study of animal play, the most difficult thing is how to define the concept of "play". For humans, we naturally know when we are playing with close family partners, but objectively proving that other creatures are playing is a challenge, because animals don't tell us when they're playing, and the signals they start playing are not necessarily understandable. The various aerial performances of the ravens in the wind may also be some kind of ritualized courtship show off, or a signal to find food. Therefore, we need to know more about the life habits of ravens and what signals they use to court and show off and discover food. That way, we can be sure that the surf ravens are playing.
In animal behavior, there are five criteria for measuring whether an animal's behavior is play:
(1) It has nothing to do with the need to survive; (2) it is voluntary and pleasant behavior; (3) it is a typical behavior of some kind of special novelty, not all the time; (4) it happens frequently, but not stereotypically repetitive; (5) the player is healthy and stress-free. Colorado's Surf Ravens meet each of these requirements.
Surfing in the Wind is an extremely complex form of play that technically encompasses three important factors: social, sporty, and goal-oriented.
Similarly, the Crows' "grab the ball" game on the rugby field of the University of Washington in Seattle in the United States also contains these 3 factors. About 50 crows gathered on the rugby field and began a game of chasing each other. First, a crow grabbed a paper ball with its foot, jumped forward a few times, and then threw it on the field. The other crows crowded to grab the paper ball, the fastest of the crows would catch the paper ball and fly quickly, the other crows would make a noisy cry, and the crow that grabbed the paper ball would fly above the other crows and throw the paper ball on the field again, and another crow would quickly pick up the paper ball. The whole process was constantly looped on the pitch, and the crows had a lot of fun. The surrounding fans happily watched the Crows' "grab the ball" game, thinking about the bad performance of the team that day, the Crows' performance was an interesting pastime.
One afternoon in late November, Tony witnessed a crow's "hot air floating" show, which met several criteria in the definition of "animal play." That day, Tony was driving north from Seattle, and the sun through the clouds brought him unexpected warmth and made him feel very comfortable. At this moment, he saw hundreds of crows in the distance flying east in droves to their roost in the town of Kenmore. When he stopped to refuel, the flock of crows flew right above his head, a large area of black pressure, probably thousands. Tony's next move was unusual for Tony, only to see some of them leave the flight team and fly to the top of a huge water tower on the side, chasing each other over the top of the tower, spiraling and occasionally resting on the top of the tower. The afternoon sun shines on the bright white metallic skin on the top of the water tower, creating a wide and warm updraft at the top of the tower. The crows on the top of the tower jumped into this rising hot air stream in turn, and floated on the top of the tower with little effort. More and more crows were floating in the hot air at the top of the tower, looking like a bunch of irregular black balloons with wings. The crows rise and fall effortlessly in the air currents. A quarter of an hour later, more crows left the line, and more than 100 crows were already circling, tumbling and chasing in the heating current above the water tower. As more crows join the frolicking at the top of the tower, the individuals in front of them will fly out of the top of the hovering crow flock and return to the team that flew to the night habitat.
The crows leave the procession flying to the night-perch and play in the rising heat at the top of the water tower
Birds of the crow family also play "slides". In the mountains of Japan, Alaska, Canada and Wales, ravens are often seen playing "slides" like otters on cold, sloping roofs and steep snow. They generally head forward, slide their stomachs or backs against the snow, and sometimes roll over the slopes like children. Occasionally they will grab a snowball and slide with it. After sliding down the slope, they will climb the snow slope again, and they will enjoy it. In Russia, small-billed crows are photographed sliding down the slopes of their roofs with plastic covers as sleds. The historic Russian Orthodox Church has a beautiful gilded roof, and the slope of the roof is particularly suitable for crows to play "slides". The crows of Seattle, USA, can only slide such magnificent golden slopes in their dreams, and they will play this game on the smooth metal roof.
When ravens and crows can't ski, they also like to ride a thing to play. Many crows hang themselves with their beaks or feet grabbing branches or wires, usually in an upside-down position
The ravens are skiing
When ravens and crows can't ski, they also like to ride a thing to play. Many crows use their beaks or feet to grab branches or wires to hang themselves, usually in an upside-down position. Mary Palm, from Lake Oswego, Oregon, once saw a crow perched on a dead branch in the spring, shaking its head up and down to make the branch sway. The crow swayed up and down with the branches as if on a swing, and when the swing stopped, the crow began to shake his head again to let the branches continue to swing. Donna Winter's adopted crows like to ride on spinning sprinklers and swing like children ride a carousel, but while they have fun, their bodies are wet.
Not only will the ravens hang on the branches of the tree to play, but they will also play the game of "rodeo" on the wires in the suburbs. Richard Borgan observed a flock of ravens trying to grab a floppy wire blown up by a strong wind in eastern Canada. A raven successfully grabs the wire with its foot and shakes the wire in the wind, while the raven on the side watches the raven perform. After holding out for more than 20 seconds, the raven fell, and immediately another raven flew over and grabbed the wire. Japanese large-billed crows also play acrobatics on wires. On a windy day, when several crows stop on a wire, one crow will suddenly fall forward and turn up again, like a gymnast doing a horizontal bar swing. The other crows watched from the side, not swinging.
Domestic crows also play with a variety of toys. There is a young raven at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark who loves to play a game of grab ball with pebbles, snail shells and a rubber ball. It would often lie back against the ground and toss between its feet and mouth, or throw it vertically high and grab it easily. Esther Woolfson had a bald-nosed crow that would throw colorful rubber rats up with its tail and fly up and grab them like predators. Woolson's Magpie Pike is more capable of playing ball, and whoever plays with it will be happier. When the Woolsen family threw the ball, Pike would fly quickly to grab the ball and then hand it to the owner, expecting the game to continue like a faithful dog.
A raven at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark often plays a game of grabs