THE ANIMAL FILES

Common raven

Corvus corax

A raven may hide today’s surplus for a later meal.

Common ravens use a wide range of plant and animal foods. Their feeding includes catching, scavenging and caching, while breeding pairs defend territories and raise young together.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Common raven
Image: Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin) · Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Diet
Plants, prey and carrion[1]
Storage
Surplus food can be cached[1]
Nests
Large stick structures with softer lining[1]

A menu shaped by opportunity

Ravens eat grains, fruit, invertebrates and vertebrate prey, as well as carrion. Some use food waste or road-killed animals. The relative contribution changes with place and season, rather than defining one fixed raven meal.[1]

Food out of sight

Surplus food may be hidden for later use. Ravens also raid other animals’ caches, and can conceal their own stores away from another raven’s view. Food handling therefore continues after obtaining the item.[1]

A territory before a nest

Breeding pairs defend a territory and its resources. A nest of sticks receives softer lining, and both parents feed the young. Juveniles also perform acrobatics and manipulate objects in play, behaviours distinct from directly acquiring a meal.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Is every object a raven handles necessarily food?

No. Object play, including manipulating twigs, has been observed as well as feeding and caching.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why watch where another raven is looking during caching?

Reveal the explanation

A cacher may place food out of another bird’s view. The social setting helps explain where the item is hidden.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Common raven (fixed revision; adapted and translated)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Corvus corax (identity and classification)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

American crowLast year's young can help feed this year's chicks.Corvus brachyrhynchos ↗Blue jayBlue feathers can be blue without blue pigment.Cyanocitta cristata ↗Western jackdawA pair can stay together inside a much larger flock.Coloeus monedula ↗