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Articles

Vol. 55 No. 1 (2024)

AMERICAN CROW CRACKS OPEN BIVALVE VIA AUTOMOBILE

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21199/WB55.1.6
Submitted
September 16, 2025
Published
January 1, 2024

Abstract

There have been many observations of corvids placing a hard-shelled food item onto a roadway, then consuming the food exposed when a passing automobile crushes the shell. However, it has been debated whether corvids perform this behavior intentionally. Our observation of an American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) placing a bivalve on a road, then eating the meat exposed when the shell was run over, supports the idea that corvids intentionally use cars to crack shelled foods.

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