Crows Reason Like Young Children

Crows and their relatives — ravens, jays, magpies, and rooks — are famous in folklore and myth for their intelligence as well as their enigmatic stare. Current science can explain and provide evidence that suggest crows can think and reason like a young child, a new study finds. Based on Aesop’s fable The Crow and the Pitcher, researchers from the University of Auckland tested New Caledonian crows’ understanding of water displacement and how to use this to solve a problem. In the fable, a crow drops pebbles into a pitcher that is half-filled with water. It continues to drop pebbles until the water level is high enough for the crow to drink. Likewise, the experiment required the crows to do the same to get a reward, which is a piece of meat attached to a floating cork.

Researchers put six New Caledonian crows through six different experiments that involved water displacement. After the birds were given a week of training, they passed four of the tests, which include dropping stones into a water-filled tube rather than a sand-filled one, dropping sinking objects instead of floating ones, dropping things into a tube that has a higher water level than a lower one, and using solid things instead of hollow ones.

Source: Here

Johnny's Crows Are His Spiritual Guides

Back in May, I got off the subway in Bay Ridge and was walking behind a guy with ink I couldn't quite make out.

I thought I saw birds on his right arm, but wasn't sure. He was talking to someone so I didn't bother him. I figure, in my neighborhood, I'll run into him again.

About a week later, my wife Melanie is telling me about someone with amazing tattoos with crows on it. She was so impressed, she struck up a conversation with him and passed him my card. I tell her I'm certain I know who she's talking about.

Johnny e-mailed me a day or two later. After some back and forth, we agreed to meet the first Sunday in June. I told him when I would be at the laundromat that morning and we met up and I took pictures.

The problem is, the pictures didn't come out great. It was a bright sunny day and the shots are very light. I e-mailed him back and explained what happened. He said he could send me some better photos. And so it goes.

That was the last time we communicated and I've decided to run the pictures anyway. The sleeve, for that's what it is, isn't complete anyway, so I figure we can get some better shots when the piece is complete.





Johnny has had about four sessions on this piece, and expects about four more.


The birds depicted are crows, which represent his "animal spiritual guide". In his words, "I am not only paying respect to spirit my guide, but also my ancestors, family and friends."


Represented in the various sections of the piece are Mother Earth, Father Sky, and The Great Being.



This work has been done by Half-Stack at Addiction Ink Tattoo & Piercings in Manhattan..

Thanks to Johnny for sharing his amazing ink with us here on Tattoosday! Sorry it took so lone to see the light of the blogosphere!

Crow and Mouse

A few minutes after talking to Brian (here), I ran into Tony, a tattoo artist at Gotham City Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Tony estimates he is 50% covered, so choosing a nice tattoo to offer up for Tattoosday was no easy task.

Until he showed me his inner left bicep:


This incredible work was done by Simone, a visiting artist from Como, Italy, who did a guest spot at Gotham.

Tony, who has been tattooing for six years, loves crows, and this piece certainly leaves little to be desired in terms of an amazing crow tattoo.

As a postscript, Tony also shared this little Mickey Mouse tattoo:


This was inked by Bill Blood (whose knuckle tattoos I wrote about here). Bill is another artist working at Gotham City Tattoo. It is evidence of a bet that Tony lost, the details of which, he felt would be inappropriate to share here.

Thanks to Tony for sharing a couple of his many tattoos here on Tattoosday!