--- product_id: 1562149 title: "Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans" price: "122.70 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1562149-gifts-of-the-crow-how-perception-emotion-and-thought-allow store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans **Price:** 122.70 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans - **How much does it cost?** 122.70 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1562149-gifts-of-the-crow-how-perception-emotion-and-thought-allow) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Stan Coren’s groundbreaking The Intelligence of Dogs meets Bernd Heinrich’s classic Mind of the Raven in this astonishing, beautifully illustrated look at the uncanny intelligence and emotions of crows. Playful, social, and passionate, crows have brains that are huge for their body size, which allows them to think, plan, and reconsider their actions. They also exhibit an avian kind of eloquence, mate for life, and associate with relatives and neighbors for years. And to people who care for them and feed them, they often give oddly touching gifts in return. The ongoing connection between humans and crows—a cultural coevolution—has shaped both species for millions of years. Scientist John Marzluff teams up with artist-naturalist Tony Angell to tell amazing stories of these brilliant birds. With Marzluff’s extraordinary original research on the intelligence and startling abilities of corvids—crows, ravens, and jays—Angell’s gorgeous line drawings, and a lively joint narrative, the authors offer an in-depth look at these complex creatures and the traits and behaviors we share, including language, delinquency, frolic, passion, wrath, risk taking, and awareness. Crows gather around their dead, warn of impending doom, recognize people, commit murder of other crows, lure animals to their death, swill coffee and drink beer, design and use tools—including cars as nutcrackers—and windsurf and sled to play. Perfect for birdwatchers, animal lovers, and fans of nature writing such as Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus , this book is a captivating blend of science, art, and unforgettable stories about one of the world’s most intelligent animals. 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: Absolutely brilliant and educational - Absolutely brilliant and educational! A great extent of research went into this book! I find the contents to be true based upon my own personal experiences and observations including documentation! I am about to publish two books: (1) THE CAWING (2) CROWS DON’T LIE ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #33,765 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #14 in Ornithology (Books) #77 in Bird Field Guides #114 in Biology (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,141 Reviews | ## 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. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely brilliant and educational *by D***T on August 12, 2025* Absolutely brilliant and educational! A great extent of research went into this book! I find the contents to be true based upon my own personal experiences and observations including documentation! I am about to publish two books: (1) THE CAWING (2) CROWS DON’T LIE ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A FASCINATING STUDY *by D***R on October 13, 2012* BIRKHEAD, Tim. Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird. Walker. 2012. 266 + xxii p, illus., bibliog., index. $25. MARZLUFF, John, and ANGELL, Tony. Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans. Free Press. 2012. 289 + xiv p., illus., bibliog., index. $25. HERZOG, Hal. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals. HarperCollins. 2010. 226 + viii p. $25.99. Good science writing is hard to beat. It's crisp, provides you with new insights into the physical world, and if the writer is good, opens up new worlds to you. Two of these three books -by Birkhead and Marzluff and Angell-- satisfy me on this level. The third -by Herzog-- does not. The two books on birds were part of a larger packet of books I bought from Amazon to satisfy my curiosity about these animals I can't ignore but know little about. I had read one book by Berndt Heinrich, a brilliant animal ethologist, on ravens so I bought three more (one on ravens, one -a classic--on bumblebees, and one autobiographical), which I have yet to read. These two books got caught up in the web of that buying spree. I[m just as interested in our attitudes toward animals -why are some okay to eat and others not? why do some repulse us and others not at all?--so I was looking for books on that topic too, and Herzog's popped up, along with a book by one of my favorite quirky historians, R. W. Bulliett, Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers (2005). This digression is simply to establish that I have a serious, though not scholarly, interest in the topics of animal capabilities and personalities and on how we perceive and relate to different kinds of animals. Birhkead's book on bird senses, and Marzluff's and Angell's on the capabilities and behavior of crows both satisfy me. The information is provides succinctly, the writing is crisp, both Birkhead and Marzluff (Angell is the illustrator) convey their passion about their subjects, and what they write about is fascinating. Both include a good deal of hard scientific information, not surprising given how much their field of studies has been enriched by the use of modern brain mapping techniques, but the hard stuff doesn't overwhelm the lay read (me). Rather, it gives what they write elsewhere credibility. The illustrations in both books are superb, and highly informative, a model of animal science illustrating. Birkhead especially is generous in detailing the contributions of past and other present day scientists in advancing knowledge in his field. Neither author claims too much for what is currently known. And if I haven't said it before, the prose in both of these books is admirably crisp. I bought the book by Hal Herzog because (1) I found the topic fascinating and (2) both Stephen Pinker and Irene Pepperberg, scientists whose books I have enjoyed, praised it. I'll be blunt. I didn't like the book. It's fuzzy where it should be hard, and it ends its stories just about the point I want to follow up on them. In short, although the book contains a great deal of interesting though I am not sure conclusive information on its subject, it's too anecdotal and much too cutesy for my taste. I'm sure a good book could be written on the subject of human tastes for animals but when it's written, it needs to be crisp in style, skeptical in analyzing, and much more compact than this rambling and sporadically entertaining account is. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1562149-gifts-of-the-crow-how-perception-emotion-and-thought-allow](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1562149-gifts-of-the-crow-how-perception-emotion-and-thought-allow) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-07-27*