---
title: "What the sources say about the Common Raven | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "52 claims from the Common Raven profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/common-raven-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-raven/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Common Raven (*Corvus corax*)

> 52 claims from the Common Raven profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Common Raven](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-raven/)

## Corvus corax (common raven). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Corvus_corax/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The Biggest Perching Bird | These are the largest passerines. (note: heading; ADW's family-tree label reads "Order Passeriformes perching birds") |
| is usually set apart from other crows by its large size | They are generally distinguished from other Corvus species by their large size (note: ADW's taxonomy line glosses Genus Corvus as "crows") |
| Adults reach up to 69 centimeters long | Adults reach up to 69 cm in length |
| Animal Diversity Web lists them as the largest of the passerines, the perching birds | These are the largest passerines. (note: ADW's family-tree label reads "Order Passeriformes perching birds") |
| At Home Almost Anywhere but Rainforest | these ravens can be found in most types of habitats except for rainforests (note: heading) |
| Common ravens range from northern Europe, the British Isles, mostly coastal Greenland and Iceland east across Asia to the Pacific, south to the Himalayas, the Middle East, northwest Africa and the Canary Islands, and through North and Central America | found in northern Europe, the British Isles, Greenland (mainly coastal areas), Iceland, northern Scandinavia, east through central Asia to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Himalayas and northwestern India, Iranian region and near east, northwestern Africa and the Canary Islands, and North and Central America as far south as Nicaragua (note: "mostly coastal" keeps "mainly coastal areas"; "Middle East" for "Iranian region and near east". Southern limit left out: Smithsonian says "far south to the mountains of South America", ADW says Nicaragua) |
| They prefer open country such as treeless tundra, seacoasts, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains and deserts, but turn up in most habitat types except rainforest | Common ravens prefer open landscapes, such as treeless tundra, seacoasts, open riverbanks, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains, deserts, and scrubby woodlands. However, these ravens can be found in most types of habitats except for rainforests. |
| Ravens are mainly scavengers, but they also eat small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, and round things out with grains, acorns, fruit and buds | Common ravens are mainly scavengers. They eat a wide array of animal foods, including arthropods, amphibians, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and carrion ... Vegetable foods include grains, acorns, fruits, and buds. (note: insects are among ADW's arthropods, and ADW says they eat the insects that feed on carrion) |
| Stomach analyses show their diet is mostly mammal flesh, followed by insects and birds | Stomach analyses show that the diet is made up primarily of mammalian flesh, followed by insects and birds. (note: "mostly" for "primarily") |
| Ravens hide food of all kinds, from nuts and bones to eggs and meat, in caches | will store foods of all kinds, including nuts, bones, eggs, and meat |
| including alarm calls, chase calls and calls for advertising territories | There are alarm calls, comfort sounds, chase calls, and calls designed for advertising territories. |
| The oversized scavenger | These are the largest passerines. (note: tagline; "mainly scavengers" in the same account) |
| Mainly carrion and other scavenged food, plus small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, grains, acorns and fruit | Common ravens are mainly scavengers. They eat a wide array of animal foods, including arthropods, amphibians, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and carrion ... Vegetable foods include grains, acorns, fruits, and buds. (note: stats.diet) |
| Tundra, seacoasts, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains and deserts | such as treeless tundra, seacoasts, open riverbanks, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains, deserts, and scrubby woodlands (note: stats.habitat, terrain clause) |
| across Europe, Asia, North Africa and North and Central America | found in northern Europe, the British Isles, Greenland (mainly coastal areas), Iceland, northern Scandinavia, east through central Asia to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Himalayas and northwestern India, Iranian region and near east, northwestern Africa and the Canary Islands, and North and Central America as far south as Nicaragua (note: stats.habitat, range clause; continents only, so the Greenland hedge does not arise) |
| from alarm calls to chase calls and territorial calls | There are alarm calls, comfort sounds, chase calls, and calls designed for advertising territories. (note: vibe.reason) |

## Common raven. Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/common-raven

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| weigh between 0.7 and 1.6 kilograms | between 1 and 3.5 pounds (0.7 to 1.6 kilograms.) (note: ADW's 689 to 1625 grams agrees) |
| Ravens have more than 30 different vocalizations on record | More than 30 different vocalizations have been recorded (note: ADW gives 15 to 33 categories; the Smithsonian's current page is preferred) |
| in human care they can mimic simple sounds, even human speech | in human care, they can mimic simple sounds--even human speech (note: ADW says mimicry "has not been unambiguously documented"; the Smithsonian's current page is preferred and its "in human care" scope kept) |
| a wild raven can live 10 to 15 years | In the wild, ravens can live to between 10 to 15 years. (note: faq 4) |
| one in human care could possibly reach 40 or 50 | In human care, it is possible these birds could live to between 40 or 50 years of age. (note: faq 4) |
| More than 30 different vocalizations on record | More than 30 different vocalizations have been recorded (note: vibe.reason) |
| tags: tool-user | They have been known to use tools to obtain food |
| tags: woodland | Ravens are extremely common in woodlands |

## Raven. BirdFacts, British Trust for Ornithology.

https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/raven

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The oldest raven in the British Trust for Ornithology's ringing records survived 17 years, 11 months and 15 days | Maximum age from a ringed bird 17 years, 11 months, 15 days (set in 2000) |

## Corvus corax. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22706068A281841771.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22706068a281841771.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC) (note: stats.conservationStatus, read through GBIF's copy of the Red List per docs/fact-check.md) |

## Heinrich & Pepper (1998). Influence of competitors on caching behaviour in the common raven, Corvus corax. Animal Behaviour.

https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1998.0906

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Hiding a Meal From a Thief | ravens not only recovered their own caches, but also routinely recovered the caches they saw others make (note: heading) |
| In one study of four captive ravens, a small amount of food that any one bird could have carried off in several trips got all four caching sooner and faster | When four birds were simultaneously given a small amount of food, which any one bird by itself could easily remove in several trips, all four birds decreased the latency to begin caching and increased caching speed. (note: "four captive nonbreeders" in the same abstract) |
| When there was only enough food for one bird to control, caching was greatly delayed | when the four birds were given only enough food for a single individual to control, caching was greatly delayed |
| Given space to get out of their rivals' sight, the birds cached farther from the food | ravens instead cached further from the food source, provided they had space into which they could escape from the sight of the competitors |
| caches food out of rivals' sight | ravens instead cached further from the food source, provided they had space into which they could escape from the sight of the competitors (note: tagline and stats.superpower clause) |
| In one study, captive ravens recovered their own caches and also routinely recovered the ones they had seen other ravens make | ravens not only recovered their own caches, but also routinely recovered the caches they saw others make (note: faq 1; captive: "four captive nonbreeders") |
| When a bird could not get out of a rival's view, it put off caching or hid its food while the rival was busy | When escape from competitor vigilance was not possible, common ravens delayed caching and/or hid food when the competitor was preoccupied. (note: faq 1) |

## Bugnyar, Reber & Buckner (2016). Ravens attribute visual access to unseen competitors. Nature Communications.

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10506

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Guarding Against an Unseen Rival | we find that ravens guard their caches against discovery in response to the sounds of conspecifics when a peephole is open but not when it is closed (note: blockquote lead-in) |
| ravens hid food while a hidden loudspeaker played sounds recorded from a rival raven, though the room next door was empty | the observation room was empty, and a hidden loudspeaker was used to play a series of sounds that were recorded from a competitor raven |
| They guarded their caches against discovery when a peephole in the wall between the rooms was open, but not when it was shut | we find that ravens guard their caches against discovery in response to the sounds of conspecifics when a peephole is open but not when it is closed (note: the wall: "two rooms separated by a wooden wall", each window with "a peephole drilled into its cover") |
| The researchers suggest ravens can infer the possibility of being seen from their own experience | Our results suggest that ravens can generalize from their own perceptual experience to infer the possibility of being seen |
| guards the stash when it might be seen | Our results suggest that ravens can generalize from their own perceptual experience to infer the possibility of being seen (note: tagline clause) |
| guards the stash when an unseen rival might be watching | ravens Corvus corax take into account the visual access of others, even when they cannot see a conspecific (note: stats.superpower clause) |
| Ravens in one study were first trained to use a peephole to spy on human-made caches in the next room | each raven was individually trained to use one of the peepholes to observe and recover human-made caches in the adjacent room (note: faq 2) |
| they treated the test like caching in full view of another raven, as though an audible competitor could potentially see their caches | We show that ravens treat the test condition like the observed condition, indicating that they can generalize from their own experience using the peephole as a pilferer and predict that audible competitors could potentially see their caches (note: faq 2; the observed condition had the windows to the adjacent room containing conspecifics open) |

## Massen, Ritter & Bugnyar (2015). Tolerance and reward equity predict cooperation in ravens (Corvus corax). Scientific Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15021

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Teamwork With Conditions Attached | ceased cooperation when being cheated upon (note: heading) |
| Without any training, nine captive ravens spontaneously cooperated | without training, nine ravens spontaneously cooperated in a loose-string task (note: captive: "Subjects were 9 sub-adult common ravens (6 males, 3 females) of our captive colony") |
| two birds had to pull both ends of a string at the same moment to drag a food platform within reach | only if both ends were simultaneously pulled, the feeding platform would move towards the aviary |
| Pulling one end alone unthreaded the string and left the platform where it was | If only one end of the string would be pulled, the string would become unthreaded and the platform would stay stationary. |
| The more tolerant two birds were of each other, the more successfully they cooperated | ravens' cooperative success increased with increasing inter-individual tolerance levels |
| A bird whose partner had taken both rewards on the last successful try was less likely to pull on the next one | birds were significantly less likely to pull when they received no reward in the previous successful cooperation trial (note: a cheat is defined in the paper as "taking both rewards instead of sharing") |
| is less willing to pull its weight after a partner cheats | birds were significantly less likely to pull when they received no reward in the previous successful cooperation trial (note: tagline clause; cheating is "taking both rewards instead of sharing") |
| is less willing to pull after a partner cheats | birds were significantly less likely to pull when they received no reward in the previous successful cooperation trial (note: stats.superpower clause) |
| They can, without any training | without training, nine ravens spontaneously cooperated in a loose-string task (note: faq 3) |
| tolerance between birds predicted cooperative success both in pairs set up by the researchers and in a group where each raven could choose its partner | ravens' cooperative success increased with increasing inter-individual tolerance levels. Importantly, we found this in both a forced dyadic setting, and in a group setting where individuals had an open choice to cooperate with whomever (note: faq 3) |
| A bird that grabbed both rewards did not become fairer afterwards: it became even more likely to cheat again | We found that after cheating the cheater did not become more fair to get back the motivation of its partner, but instead became even more likely to cheat again (note: faq 3) |