---
product_id: 1562149
title: "Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans"
price: "R572"
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reviews_count: 13
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region: South Africa
---

# Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

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Review: Birds Are Much Smarter Than We Think - Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff and Tony Angell is a book proving that birds are a lot smarter than one may think. You may think that birds are just animals that live on this earth and strive for survival. Marzluff and Angell take the bird and prove to the readers that these magnificent animals are more than meets the eye and that with proper research and observation, a bird is actually an intelligent creature, just like us humans. Although this may seem bizarre and quite a bit farfetched, it is not since Marzluff is an expert on birds and their behavior through the years of study and research that he has conducted with birds. Along with his research, Marzluff has written and published many papers and books just like this one depicting the behavior of birds. Angell on the other hand, has less experience with research, but more experience in observing wildlife and transforming what he sees into works of art. Therefore, whether you think this book is accurate or completely false, I stand on the position that these authors are correct in the sense that birds do behave like humans mostly because the evidence is presented all throughout the book and how can you not believe something when evidence is presented in front of you? The main idea behind this book is basically Marzluff and Angell primarily focusing on the behavior of birds belonging to the avian family Corvidae including crows, ravens, jays, and nutcrackers. Throughout this book, the two authors do not try to persuade readers to agree with their writings and research, but instead attempt to portray to humans that these birds are more than meets the eye. The authors try to show how these birds are smarter and more intelligent than they appear to be. Throughout this book, we see concepts of neuroscience being presented. Betty is a crow and one of the birds that the two authors have been observing for some time. Betty shows cognitive abilities when the authors test her by putting bird food in a tiny bucket and they put this bucket in a glass cylinder. Next to the cylinder the authors put a twig. Betty is now placed by the experiment. She attempts to reach the food with only her break. She fails. Next she grabs the twig and tries to scoop the food out. She fails. Finally, she bends the tip of the twig to make hook and then she hooks the twig to the bucket and pulls the bucket out. What the authors observe here is that these birds have cognitive abilities as well as the ability of remembering actions. They call this the "knowledge of cause and effect". Betty knew that her beak would not reach the food so she looked for other means. She found the twig and used this. She knew she would not get it out with the straight twig so she bent the edge and made a hook. This is remarkable to observe since you can actually see the bird using its brain to think things through. Marzluff and Angell believe the bird was able to remember its actions and attain the goal which it strived to obtain because of their brains. Marzluff states that "the forebrain of a crow assesses sensory information, integrates this view of the environment with context and emotion to form memories, and sends electrical and chemical instructions to motor control regions to command action" (Marzluff and Angell 5). Another quite amazing example is the risk taking that crows take. Marzluff has been observing the risks that crows take as well. He gives one example of how crows have learned to simply duck if a car is approaching them rather than flying away. This gives crows an advantage to road kill since other animals will not go near road kill because they run the risk of getting killed themselves. That is not the case for crows. These birds will see a car coming, and due to what they know, they will simply duck and wait for the car to pass. This is hard to believe but Marzluff's studies and observations have proved the risk taking that crows encounter. Just one more example that stuck me while reading was a raven named Bela. Bela has been marked by Marzluff with a yellow ring on her claw to distinguish her from others. Marzluff has been going to the park and feeding her for quite some time now. Whenever he approaches, Bela swoops down from the tree and flies around him until he gives her the food. However one day Marzluff is walking with a group and Bela notices him, but instead of flying around him, this time Bela flies around, caws violently which this makes other crows start to fly around him and caw. What Marzluff believes happened here is that Bela used her recognition skills and remembered Marzluff, but did not recognize the others. She felt threatened and therefore retaliated in the way that she did. This just comes to show you how different these birds are and how smart and intelligent they can really be. There are a lot more stories just like these in the book that prove to the readers how smart these birds are. These stories have scientific evidence proving the true nature of these birds. When evidence is shown it is really hard to try and negate something and say it is untrue. Therefore, this book is a clear illustration of the intelligence of these birds.
Review: Fascinating look into the lives and personalities of crows - We have crows. Uninvited crows who have now become a welcomed neighbor. They make a lot of noise but after reading this book, we feel privileged to have intelligent, animated and entertaining squatters. This book covers the scientific aspects as well as the everyday habits that make crows so interesting. They mate for life. They recognize human faces. They are known to leave gifts. This is the perfect gift for anyone who has an interest in birds, especially crows.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #44,821 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #10 in Ornithology (Books) #51 in Bird Field Guides #159 in Biology (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,112) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.38 inches |
| Edition  | Illustrated |
| ISBN-10  | 1439198748 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1439198742 |
| Item Weight  | 8 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 320 pages |
| Publication date  | February 5, 2013 |
| Publisher  | Atria |

## Images

![Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/7197fi8GxkL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Birds Are Much Smarter Than We Think
*by M***K on April 26, 2013*

Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff and Tony Angell is a book proving that birds are a lot smarter than one may think. You may think that birds are just animals that live on this earth and strive for survival. Marzluff and Angell take the bird and prove to the readers that these magnificent animals are more than meets the eye and that with proper research and observation, a bird is actually an intelligent creature, just like us humans. Although this may seem bizarre and quite a bit farfetched, it is not since Marzluff is an expert on birds and their behavior through the years of study and research that he has conducted with birds. Along with his research, Marzluff has written and published many papers and books just like this one depicting the behavior of birds. Angell on the other hand, has less experience with research, but more experience in observing wildlife and transforming what he sees into works of art. Therefore, whether you think this book is accurate or completely false, I stand on the position that these authors are correct in the sense that birds do behave like humans mostly because the evidence is presented all throughout the book and how can you not believe something when evidence is presented in front of you? The main idea behind this book is basically Marzluff and Angell primarily focusing on the behavior of birds belonging to the avian family Corvidae including crows, ravens, jays, and nutcrackers. Throughout this book, the two authors do not try to persuade readers to agree with their writings and research, but instead attempt to portray to humans that these birds are more than meets the eye. The authors try to show how these birds are smarter and more intelligent than they appear to be. Throughout this book, we see concepts of neuroscience being presented. Betty is a crow and one of the birds that the two authors have been observing for some time. Betty shows cognitive abilities when the authors test her by putting bird food in a tiny bucket and they put this bucket in a glass cylinder. Next to the cylinder the authors put a twig. Betty is now placed by the experiment. She attempts to reach the food with only her break. She fails. Next she grabs the twig and tries to scoop the food out. She fails. Finally, she bends the tip of the twig to make hook and then she hooks the twig to the bucket and pulls the bucket out. What the authors observe here is that these birds have cognitive abilities as well as the ability of remembering actions. They call this the "knowledge of cause and effect". Betty knew that her beak would not reach the food so she looked for other means. She found the twig and used this. She knew she would not get it out with the straight twig so she bent the edge and made a hook. This is remarkable to observe since you can actually see the bird using its brain to think things through. Marzluff and Angell believe the bird was able to remember its actions and attain the goal which it strived to obtain because of their brains. Marzluff states that "the forebrain of a crow assesses sensory information, integrates this view of the environment with context and emotion to form memories, and sends electrical and chemical instructions to motor control regions to command action" (Marzluff and Angell 5). Another quite amazing example is the risk taking that crows take. Marzluff has been observing the risks that crows take as well. He gives one example of how crows have learned to simply duck if a car is approaching them rather than flying away. This gives crows an advantage to road kill since other animals will not go near road kill because they run the risk of getting killed themselves. That is not the case for crows. These birds will see a car coming, and due to what they know, they will simply duck and wait for the car to pass. This is hard to believe but Marzluff's studies and observations have proved the risk taking that crows encounter. Just one more example that stuck me while reading was a raven named Bela. Bela has been marked by Marzluff with a yellow ring on her claw to distinguish her from others. Marzluff has been going to the park and feeding her for quite some time now. Whenever he approaches, Bela swoops down from the tree and flies around him until he gives her the food. However one day Marzluff is walking with a group and Bela notices him, but instead of flying around him, this time Bela flies around, caws violently which this makes other crows start to fly around him and caw. What Marzluff believes happened here is that Bela used her recognition skills and remembered Marzluff, but did not recognize the others. She felt threatened and therefore retaliated in the way that she did. This just comes to show you how different these birds are and how smart and intelligent they can really be. There are a lot more stories just like these in the book that prove to the readers how smart these birds are. These stories have scientific evidence proving the true nature of these birds. When evidence is shown it is really hard to try and negate something and say it is untrue. Therefore, this book is a clear illustration of the intelligence of these birds.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fascinating look into the lives and personalities of crows
*by H***N on August 29, 2024*

We have crows. Uninvited crows who have now become a welcomed neighbor. They make a lot of noise but after reading this book, we feel privileged to have intelligent, animated and entertaining squatters. This book covers the scientific aspects as well as the everyday habits that make crows so interesting. They mate for life. They recognize human faces. They are known to leave gifts. This is the perfect gift for anyone who has an interest in birds, especially crows.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very interesting read
*by S***A on December 8, 2025*

I love crows, they are incredibly smart. This book has a lot of information about these creatures. It’s very interesting to learn from people who study them to get insights and scientific knowledge. It’s kind of like being introduced to them and what their life is like.

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*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-03-09*