The Crow Paradox
Here's a surprise: Wild crows can recognize individual people. They can pick a person out of a crowd, follow them, and remember them — apparently for years. But people — even people who love crows — usually can't tell them apart. So what we have for you are two experiments that tell this story.
First, how do crows tell us apart? Watch this video:
Video: The Crow Paradox
![[Interactive:Video: The Crow Paradox]](http://media.npr.org/assets/news/2009/07/27/crow/crow_wide.jpg)
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We can't tell crows apart, but they can tell us apart. How do they do it?
Now, our second experiment. On you. There are crow scholars who raise, study, and even live with a crow. But once that crow flies off and joins a group, these researchers say they can no longer tell their crow apart from the others.
Crows have this uncanny ability to tell one human from another. And they'll hold a grudge if you do them wrong. But can you tell one crow from another?
If you want to hear researchers describe what it's like to alienate a crow, and then be razzed and harassed by its family and neighbors wherever they go — tennis courts, ATM machines, parking lots — listen to our radio story. We'll also tell you how unbelievably long a crow can keep a grudge.
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