Can animals mourn their dead? Do they recognize when one of their own has fallen and give it thought? Us humans like to think we are pretty special, sitting high and mighty above the “animal world” below us. We like to think that we are pretty damn unique, and that it is only us who display any sense of recognizing and fearing death, even mourning it, but there just so happen to be other animals that possibly do this same thing, and one of these is perhaps quite a surprise, as it turns out that crows show bevahior that is perhaps quite similar to our own mourning practices.

Some of the most intelligent animals on our planet are a group of birds called the corvids, which include crows, jays, magpies, and ravens. They have demonstrated teamwork, complex social behaviors, advanced problem solving, the ability to hold grudges, an uncanny ability to recognize faces, and even tool-using, all to a spectacular degree that shows remarkable cognitive capabilities that we are learning about all of the time, but one very mysterious behavior among especially crows that has long held a certain macabre quality to it is their tendency to hold what are called “crow funerals.” Whenever one of their own species dies, other crows in the area will flock to the scene and linger about the corpse, squawking loudly and refusing to leave, in a strange gathering that has long been suspected to be some sort of mourning ritual and contemplation of their dead being carried out by the animals.

This has long been a perplexing mystery for scientists, and although this “funeral” behavior is still not completely understood there have been efforts to get to the bottom of it, and try to ascertain if these birds are indeed mourning their dead or if it is something else. Perhaps the most in depth research on the phenomenon has been carried out by a team led by Kaeli Swift, a PhD student in environmental science and biologist John Marzluff, both of the University of Washington, and who together carried out a two-year study to try and figure out what is going on here. One of the first things they found was that, unlike many animals, crows actually recognize the concept of death, understand that one of their own has died, and react to it in some pretty potent and interesting ways.

It was already known before this experiment was carried out that crows have an incredible ability to not only recognize and indefinitely remember individual human faces, but to also teach other crows about those faces, especially if they are considered a threat. This was brought to light in 2008 by Marzluff, who devised an experiment wherein volunteers in cavemen masks would harass crows, whereas others in Dick Cheney masks would feed them. It did not take long at all for the crows to display aggressive mobbing behavior towards the “cavemen,” even individual crows who had never seen the cavemen before and regardless of whether they were engaging in threatening behavior at that moment, indicating that some sort of social learning was going on, and the crows would remember for years. This was seen as a useful trick for efficiently sifting out who was a threat and who meant to give food, but it was not known just how deeply this went until he and Swift teamed up for their new study.

To test this out further, the team set up an experiment that began with Swift leaving out food for the birds to eat at regular times, after which they associated the area with food and quickly learned when it would be set out, always congregating at the same spot at the same time every day. Then a variety of different volunteers were sent in to elicit different reactions from the birds, all of them wearing different latex masks to obscure their real faces. Among the volunteers were those who approached the crows empty handed, those who had with them a taxidermy specimen of a crow predator, others who had a specimen of a pigeon, and then Swift, who was the one who brought food.

It was found that the ones with a pigeon were mostly ignored, as were the empty handed ones, but the ones holding a predator would be mostly avoided and squawked at from afar, and the one with the dead crow would be actively mobbed and threatened by groups of the birds. If this mask showed up empty handed, the crows remembered it and mobbed the volunteer even in the absence of the dead bird. The birds would also be warier about approaching the location where this particular mask wearer had shown up. It did not matter who wore the mask, as it could be switched between wearers with the same effects, it was the appearance of the mask itself that set off their alarm bells, and they only got aggravated when the one who had held a dead crow was in sight. Even birds that had not witnessed the original display of the taxidermy specimen were clued in to what was going on, meaning they had been taught this. For six weeks the volunteers returned to the scene empty-handed, and the crows still reacted the same ways depending on the mask worn. As for the one who fed them, the crows would show great favor towards this one, and not show any aggressive behavior at all. Curiously, the actual death of the crow did not have to be witnessed by the animals to elicit a reaction, just the corpse. Swift would say of it all:

I was always the friendly feeder, which was nice, I never made any crow enemies. I would put my food out, then this second person would show up. They would be holding a dead crow, not violently, not reenacting a death scene, just holding it like they were picking it up to throw it in rubbish, palms outstretched like you might hold a plate of hors d’oeuvre.

This is interesting in that other research has shown that crows will even on occasion bring “gifts” for the ones who feed them, while remembering the faces of their enemies and teaching others of this. Considering that the crows clearly recognize when a dead one of their own kind is present, it shows a particular cognitive ability, of which Swift says:

It tells us that crows view death, at least in part, as a ‘teachable moment’ to borrow an anthropomorphic phrase. It’s a signal of danger and danger is something to be avoided. They know what death is and know to fear it. It’s amazing to think a crow — a bird — is doing something like this that so few other animals are doing that we know.

This fear of death upon seeing a corpse of one of their brethren, to recognize and even perhaps mourn death, may seem pretty obvious to us, but there are only a very few types of animals known to actually have this reaction, including humans, elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees, dolphins, and several other corvid species. So what does this have to do with those “crow funerals” we were talking about earlier? Well, although it could be a type of mourning, Swift and team think it might have more to do with the crows studying the area and trying to learn what the threat is, trying to figure out who is a friendly person and who is a threat. As Swift says, “By participating in these funerals, crows can get information about new dangers without taking the risk.” However, she still does not rule out that they may indeed be showing mourning behavior as well.

The study was published in a 2015 article in the journal Animal Behaviour, and it is a rather intriguing theory on crow funerals and the behaviors and cognitive functions that drive them. Whether the birds are actually displaying mourning behavior or not, it is still pretty damn clever that they are able to do this, and it probably has to do with the birds evolving right along such close proximity to human beings. It is an excellent chance to study the similarities between these birds and us, and what that means, with Swift saying:

This work is another example of how crows have evolved to live so successfully with us. They can learn our faces and do so in an impressive number of circumstances including when we have appeared to out ourselves as one of those prickly neighbors by interacting with their dead. If you step back and examine how distantly related crows are from us, and our closest mammalian relatives, you start to see how striking this shared interest in our dead is. It’s a chance to unlock deep mysteries about the evolution of our own funeral rites, and appreciate how much we share with our black cloaked companions, even if they look nothing like us.

Despite the study, it is still unclear exactly what drives this funeral behavior in crows, but we do know that they in fact recognize death to some extent and fear it. Does this mean that they mourn their fallen as well? Are we perhaps not alone in our ability to contemplate our mortality and show sympathy for those who are not with us anymore or is it seen in other animals as well? In recent years with more and more research into animal psychology and behavior it is becoming more and more apparent that we are perhaps not so unique as we would sometimes like to believe, and the animal world is still a very mysterious place that is bound to turn up more surprises.

There are many groups of people the world over who are renowned for unique adaptations to their environment. These range from the tribal groups of the deep Amazon, whose hunter-gathering way of life has remained primarily unchanged for thousands of years, to the enigmatic Sherpas, whose genetics allow them to traverse the steep Himalayan slopes without suffering the effects of the thin air at those altitudes.

Similar feats are achieved almost daily by the Bajau of Southeast Asia, especially where oxygen is concerned. These “sea nomads”, as they are often called, have the unique ability to hold their breath for minutes at a time, ranking them among the world’s most unparalleled divers (and hence their unique nickname).

Some of the Bajau divers are able to operate underwater with such ease that it led to speculation as to whether they had adapted genetically over time, similar to people who thrive in higher altitudes. Last spring, evolutionary geneticist Melissa Ilardo led a study that proposed such adaptations might involve the unusually large spleens found among the Bajau, outlined in a paper published in the journal Cell. Similar adaptations have been observed in ocean-dwelling mammals, such as sperm whales which are able to hold their breaths for up to 90 minutes thanks to a substance in their bloodstream called myoglobin, which binds oxygen in their blood and becomes electrically-charged when the whales go underwater. 

The Bajau perform their incredible diving feats completely naturally, although the current record for a human holding their breath underwater is held by 47-year-old Peter Colat, a diver from Zurich, Switzerland, who managed to hold his breath for an astounding 19 minutes and 21 seconds in 2010.

Colat, who was 38-year-old at the time, managed to achieve this through oxygen-assisted static apnea, where one breathes pure oxygen for 10 minutes prior to diving, according to rules set by the Guinness Book of World Records. His record ousted the previous record holder, Nicola Putignano of Italy, by just 19 seconds.

It begs the question, just how long could a person or animal survive underwater with the help of a little extra added oxygen? More specifically, what if rather than holding their breath, the mammals in question were able to breathe oxygen from the water itself?

Perhaps the earliest study looking into this goes all the way back to 1964, as reported in the journal Sea Frontiers by Johannes A. Kylstra, which discussed experiments with mice that involved such processes. The experiments were conducted in chambers partially filled with water, where the air was replaced with compressed oxygen and pressurized equivalent to that of eight atmospheres, allowing for an artificially oxygen-enriched liquid environment below it. Finally, salts which are similar to those that appear naturally in the blood of mammals were added to the water.

The study found that mice introduced into the liquid environment were actually able to “breathe for several minutes and, in some cases, hours.” Temperature was also a factor in survival, with mice surviving the longest at a temperature of 68°F. The mice, despite being within a liquid environment, were found to be “active and alert,” and “did not appear to be in severe distress” while submerged in the oxygenated water.

Most of the mice began to lose consciousness within half an hour of entering the liquid environment. Subsequent experiments involved the introduction of a chemical buffer into the water, which helped preserve a constant acidity in the liquid solution, whereafter some of the mice responded to stimuli such as shaking or tapping the outside of the tank for up to six hours while submerged.

These initial studies led to further experiments with perfluorinated hydrocarbons, which unlike the oxygenated water from the earlier studies, could more effectively remove carbon dioxide from the lungs. The most effective substance of this variety, called perflubron, has roughly double the density of water, and can also carry as much as twice the amount of oxygen as air (this substance is most often referenced as “radiopaque perfluorocarbon solution for lung lavage,” and is sold under the name “LiquiVent” in the United States and other countries, generally only for research purposes).

If all of this sounds a lot like the famous liquid breathing apparatus used by Ed Harris during the climax of the sci-fi film The Abyss, you wouldn’t be the only one who thinks so. In fact, several years ago during a revolutionary medical procedure that was used to save Adrianna Mancini–a child born five months premature–Dr. Jay Greenspan at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Dr. Thomas Shaffer of Temple University in Philadelphia employed the then-experimental process of liquid ventilation in order to save the child’s life, after comparing it to the liquid featured in the famous film. 

“I knew that I was watching medical history being made,” Mancini later told Reader’s Digest. Shafer and Greenspan’s procedure went on to be used to save other premature infants in the years that followed. 

Quite obviously, the futuristic deep-sea breathing apparatus featured in The Abyss was partially inspired by the real-life science described here (in fact, one scene in the film actually depicts a rat being submerged in a perfluorinated hydrocarbon-like liquid; an obvious a nod to the 1960s studies that introduced the idea). But what began with experiments aimed at helping mice breathe in special liquid environments did more than just inspire the world of sci-fi, and now, the real-world applications of these studies can even help save lives.

It’s not a great plot for a horror movie – they’re not eating brains (yet) – but it’s real. Plants that were once alive hundreds of years ago, then frozen during the Little Ice Age and buried under a hundred feet of ice the Canadian tundra, are being exposed to light once again due to (no surprise here) climate change and not just rising up as the ice melts again but growing and even thriving. If they need some help getting reestablished, some worms found in Siberia (where else?) that were frozen 40,000 years ago have warmed up and are alive again. Aspiring screenwriters want to know … has anyone offered them brains yet?

“You wouldn’t assume that anything buried for hundreds of years would be viable. The material had always been considered dead. But by seeing green tissue, “I thought, ‘Well, that’s pretty unusual.’ We were pretty blown away.”

The model for Indiana Jones in this movie might be evolutionary biologist Catherine La Farge (Indiannette Jones?), who recently went to the Trardrop Glacier on Canada’s Ellesmere Island intending to study what she expected to be decaying ancient plants being exposed by climate change. As reported in The National Post, when she scraped up the moss Aulacomnium turgidum, La Farge was shocked to see something green … shocked because this moss last saw light somewhere between 1550 and 1850 when The Little Ice Age hit North America, severely dropping temperatures for centuries and growing its glaciers in both area and depth. The moss La Farge found was indeed rising back to life on its own. She brought samples back to her lab in Edmonton and gave them a little help in the form of warmth and nutrients, and they not only arose but grew into seemingly normal (a Rip Van Winkle kind of normal) plants.

Aulacomnium turgidum

La Farge may have some competition in getting a Frozen Frankenstein Flora movie based on her discovery. There’s news from Antarctica of the discovery of mossfrozen 1500 years ago that was also growing again. Peter Convey, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey, wasn’t quite as surprised because he believes ice protects plant cells from the stresses of surface life – freeze-thaw cycles and radiation are two big ones. As the ice permanently melts, the first plants exposed have the best chance to arise and take over before anything else thaws, which “really accelerates the recolonization process” and allows the ground frozen and buried for centuries to quickly become green once again.

If these ‘new’ ancient plants need help growing, they can open a can of worms from Siberia, where University of Tennessee microbiologist Tatiana Vishnivetskaya has been drilling deep into the Siberian permafrost and recently discovered frozen 40,000-year-old segmented worms (nematodes) that began wiggling once again when thawed.

“Of course we were surprised and very excited.”

Soybean cyst nematode and egg

That probably applies to the worms too, especially if they know they might be moving to slightly warmer dirt where they can eat, poop and fertilize centuries-old plants. It might also be good news for life on other planets, and even life forms on spaceships or asteroids traveling around the galaxy looking for a place to land/crash, thaw and live long and prosper.

Not a great movie plot but definitely a glimmer of hope of the continuation of life on Earth and possibility of life on other planets.

There’s no doubt that the defining date on which the UFO phenomenon was born was June 24, 1947. That was the date on which pilot Kenneth Arnold had a close encounter of the very weird kind. The location was near Mt. Rainier, Washington State. As for Arnold’s experience, it involved nothing less than an entire squadron of strange-looking aircraft.The terms “UFO” and “Unidentified Flying Objects” were not around way back then. Such craft were referred to as “Flying Saucers” and “Flying Disks.” There’s a reason why I bring all of this up today. While lecturing on the UFO subject recently for a regional group, I brought up the matter of the Arnold affair. What surprised me was the distinct lack of knowledge – on the part of many of the attendees – regarding the specific nature of Arnold’s sighting. So, I thought, why not share with you today the story of Arnold – in the man’s very own words, and for one and all to understand and appreciate.

Arnold said:

“The following story of what I observed over the Cascade Mountains, as impossible as it may seem, is positively true. I never asked nor wanted any notoriety for just accidentally being in the right spot at the right time to observe what I did. I reported something that I know any pilot would have reported. I don’t think that in any way my observation was due to any sensitivity of eye sight or judgment than what is considered normal for any pilot. On June 24th, Tuesday, 1947, I had finished my work for the Central Air Service at Chehalis, Washington, and at about two o’clock I took off from Chehalis, Washington, airport with the intention of going to Yakima, Wash. My trip was delayed for an hour to search for a large marine transport that supposedly went down near or around the southwest side of Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington and to date has never been found.”

Kenneth Arnold

Arnold continued: “I flew directly toward Mt. Rainier after reaching an altitude of about 9,500 feet, which is the approximate elevation of the high plateau from which Mt. Rainier rises. I had made one sweep of this high plateau to the westward, searching all of the various ridges for this marine ship and flew to the west down and near the ridge side of the canyon where Ashford, Washington, is located. Unable to see anything that looked like the lost ship, I made a 360 degree turn to the right and above the little city of Mineral, starting again toward Mt. Rainier. I climbed back up to an altitude of approximately 9,200 feet. The air was so smooth that day that it was a real pleasure flying and, as most pilots do when the air is smooth and they are flying at a higher altitude, I trimmed out my airplane in the direction of Yakima, Washington, which was almost directly east of my position and simply sat in my plane observing the sky and the terrain.”

The man himself was about to have the encounter that made him famous: “There was a DC-4 to the left and to the rear of me approximately fifteen miles distance, and I should judge, at 14,000 foot elevation. The sky and air was clear as crystal. I hadn’t flown more than two or three minutes on my course when a bright flash reflected on my airplane. It startled me as I thought I was too close to some other aircraft. I looked every place in the sky and couldn’t find where the reflection had come from until I looked to the left and the north of Mt. Rainier where I observed a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 foot elevation and going, seemingly, in a definite direction of about 170 degrees. They were approaching Mt. Rainier very rapidly, and I merely assumed they were jet planes. Anyhow, I discovered that this was where the reflection had come from, as two or three of them every few seconds would dip or change their course slightly, just enough for the sun to strike them at an angle that reflected brightly on my plane. These objects being quite far away, I was unable for a few seconds to make out their shape or their formation. Very shortly they approached Mt. Rainier, and I observed their outline against the snow quite plainly.”

Arnold did his very best to figure out what the vehicles were: “I thought it was very peculiar that I couldn’t find their tails but assumed they were some type of jet plane. I was determined to clock their speed, as I had two definite points I could clock them by; the air was so clear that it was very easy to see objects and determine their approximate shape and size at almost fifty miles that day. I remember distinctly that my sweep second hand on my eight day clock, which is located on my instrument panel, read one minute to 3 P.M. as the first object of this formation passed the southern edge of Mt. Rainier. I watched these objects with great interest as I had never before observed airplanes flying so close to the mountain tops, flying directly south to southeast down the hog’s back of a mountain range. I would estimate their elevation could have varied a thousand feet one way or another up or down, but they were pretty much on the horizon to me which would indicate they were near the same elevation as I was.”

It’s very clear from Arnold’s words that he was struggling to understand what was afoot in the skies over Washington State: “They flew like many times I have observed geese to fly in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked together. They seemed to hold a definite direction but rather swerved in and out of the high mountain peaks. Their speed at the time did not impress me particularly, because I knew that our army and air forces had planes that went very fast. What kept bothering me as I watched them flip and flash in the sun right along their path was the fact that I couldn’t make out any tail on them, and I am sure that any pilot would justify more than a second look at such a plane. I observed them quite plainly, and I estimate my distance from them, which was almost at right angles, to be between twenty to twenty-five miles. I knew they must be very large to observe their shape at that distance, even on as clear a day as it was that Tuesday, In fact I compared a zeus [sic: it should be “Dzus”] fastener or cowling tool I had in my pocket with them – holding it up on them and holding it up on the DC-4 – that I could observe at quite a distance to my left, and they seemed smaller than the DC-4; but, I should judge their span would have been as wide as the furtherest [sic] engines on each side of the fuselage of the DC-4.”

He continued to remain puzzled; in fact, very much so: “The more I observed these objects the more upset I became, as I am accustomed and familiar with most all objects flying whether I am close to the ground or at higher altitudes. I observed the chain of these objects passing another high snow-covered ridge in between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams and as, the first one was passing the south crest of this ridge the last object was entering the northern crest of the ridge. As I was flying in the direction of this particular ridge, I measured it and found it to be approximately five miles so I could safely assume that the chain of these saucer like objects were at least five miles long. I could quite accurately determine their pathway due to the fact that there were several high peaks that were a little this side of them as well as higher peaks on the other side of their pathway.”

The story got even more amazing: “As the last unit of this formation passed the southern-most high snow-covered crest of Mt. Adams, I looked at my sweep second hand and it showed that they had traveled the distance in one minute and forty-two seconds. Even at the time this timing did not upset me as I felt confident after I would land there would be some explanation of what I saw. A number of news men and experts suggested that I might have been seeing reflections or even a mirage. This I know to be absolutely false, as I observed these objects not only through the glass of my airplane but turned my airplane sideways where I could open my window and observe them with a completely unobstructed view. (Without sun glasses.) Even though two minutes seems like a very short time to one on the ground, in the air in two minutes time a pilot can observe a great many things and anything within his sight of vision probably as many as fifty or sixty times.”

As Arnold told it, “I continued my search for the marine plane for another fifteen or twenty minutes and while searching for this marine plane, what I had just observed kept going through my mind. I became more disturbed, so after taking a last look at Tieton Reservoir I headed for Yakima. I might add that my complete observation of these objects, which I could even follow by their flashes as they passed Mt. Adams, was around two and one-half or three minutes — although, by the time they reached Mt. Adams they were out of my range of vision as far as determining shape or form. Of course, when the sun reflected from one or two or three of these units, they appeared to be completely round; but, I am making a drawing to the best of my ability, which I am including, as to the shape I observed these objects to be as they passed the snow covered ridges as well as Mt. Rainier. When these objects were flying approximately straight and level, they were just a black thin line and when they flipped was the only time I could get a judgment as to their size. These objects were holding an almost constant elevation; they did not seem to be going up or coming down, such as would be the case of rockets or artillery shells.”

An opinion then came from Arnold: “I am convinced in my own mind that they were some type of airplane, even though they didn’t conform with the many aspects of the conventional type of planes that I know. Although these objects have been reported by many other observers throughout the United States, there have been six or seven other accounts written by some of these observers that I can truthfully say must have observed the same thing that I did; particularly, the descriptions of the three Western [Cedar City, Utah] Air Lines employees, the gentleman [pilot] from Oklahoma City and the locomotive engineer from Illinois, plus Capt. Smith and Co-Pilot Stevens of United Air Lines. Some descriptions could not be very accurate taken from the ground unless these saucer-like disks were at a great height and there is a possibility that all of the people who observed peculiar objects could have seen the same thing I did, but, it would have been very difficult from the ground to observe these for more than four or five seconds, and there is always the possibility of atmospheric moisture and dust near the ground which could distort one’s vision.”

There was more to come: “I have in my possession letters from all over the Unites States and people who profess that these objects have been observed over other portions of the world, principally Sweden, Bermuda, and California. I would have given almost anything that day to have had a movie camera with a telephoto lens and from now on I will never be without one – but, to continue further with my story. When I landed at Yakima, Wash., airport I described what I had seen to my very good friend, Al Baxter, who listened patiently and was very courteous but in a joking way didn’t believe me. I did not accurately measure the distance between these two mountains until I landed at Pendleton, Oregon, that same day where I told a number of pilot friends of mine what I had observed and they did not scoff or laugh but suggested they might be guided missiles or something new. In fact several former Army pilots informed me that they had been briefed before going into combat overseas that they might see objects of similar shape and design as I described and assured me that I wasn’t dreaming or going crazy.”

According to Arnold: “I quote Sonny Robinson, a former Army Air Forces pilot who is now operating dusting operations at Pendleton, Oregon, ‘that what you observed, I am convinced, is some type of jet or rocket propelled ship that is in the process of being tested by our government or even it could possibly be by some foreign government.’ Anyhow, the news that I had observed these spread very rapidly and before the night was over I was receiving telephone calls from all parts of the world; and, to date, I have not received one telephone call or one letter of scoffing or disbelief. The only disbelief that I know of was what was printed in the papers.”

In conclusion, there are these words from Arnold: “I look at this whole ordeal as not something funny as some people have made it out to be. To me it is mighty serious and since I evidently did observe something that at least Mr. John Doe on the street corner or Pete Andrews on the ranch has never heard about, is no reason that it does not exist. Even though I openly invited an investigation by the Army and the FBI as to the authenticity of my story or a mental or a physical examination as to my capabilities, I have received no interest from these two important protective forces of our country; I will go so far as to assume that any report I gave to the United and Associated Press and over the radio on two different occasions which apparently set the nation buzzing, if our Military intelligence was not aware of what I observed, they would be the very first people that I could expect as visitors. I have received lots of requests from people who told me to make a lot of wild guesses. I have based what I have written here in this article on positive facts and as far as guessing what it was I observed, it is just as much a mystery to me as it is to the rest of the world.”

So, in case you didn’t know the story, you do now!