how is it
possible the world still exists, as
it begins to take form there, in the not
being, there is once then there is the
big vocabulary, loosed, like
a jay's song thrown down when the
bird goes away, cold mornings,
hauling dawn away with it, leaving
grackle and crow in sun—they have
known what to find in the unmade
undrawn unseen unmarked and
dragged it into here—that it be
visible.
—Jorie Graham [1]
Corvids at sunrise above a creek with petroglyphs, NW Nevada.
“Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills” is the title of a paper published December 2020 [2]. The authors in their conclusion:
Our results suggest that ravens are not only social intellects but have also developed sophisticated cognitive skills for dealing with the physical world. Furthermore, their cognitive development was very rapid and their cognitive performance was on par with adult great apes’ cognitive performance across the same cognitive scales.
I have watched ravens and crows — the Corvids — in wildly variegated domains: desert, thick forest, snow field, urban alley, lakeshore, beach dune, roof-top. These ever-alert songbirds seem to continually sense a surrounding multiverse and with astute ability and distinct personality respond accordingly.
In this time of humans living with a compulsively accelerating planet, the list of losses and fears lengthens and expands sideways. In the post-hominid era, many species will emerge resilient. Raven, the Trickster of the Pacific Northwest, clearly among them.
Notes
[1] Jorie Graham, the concluding lines of the final poem “Mother’s Hands Drawing Me” in Fast, her 2017 collection of poetry.[2] Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills.
Pika, S., Sima, M.J., Blum, C.R. et al. Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills. Sci Rep 10, 20617 (2020). Scientific Reports volume 10, Article number: 20617 (2020) Published: 10 December 2020. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77060-8
Click to enlarge
