A bird explaining to a hedgehog crossing so it doesn’t die.
!!! ok but that’s legitimately what it’s doing!! That’s a corvid right there (looks like a hooded crow, to be precise), which means it’s intelligent enough to recognize, a) cars are dangerous and streets should be treated with a certain degree of caution, b) this car’s slowing down for them–cars do that sometimes–which means they’re not in imminent danger, so it doesn’t have to fly away just yet, c) that hedgehog’s still gonna get killed if it doesn’t MOVE, FAST (cars can change speed very quickly and the hedgehog’s still in the way), and almost certainly also d) if the bird does nothing it gets a free lunch.
Y’all, Y’ALL. This bird is consciously deciding to put itself in danger in order to save the life of a very stupid creature. A creature which, if the bird did nothing, could be free food.
i can’t - look if you follow me you know I have a thing for corvids, but this is - like!!! People are always saying “ah yes they have sub-human intelligence and don’t consider anything that isn’t immediately necessary for their own survival/pleasure,” but! Whether or not it can do philosophy, this crow is clearly demonstrating compassion. Even if it’s just the kind of compassion a toddler shows to a snail, a social creature that instinctively recognizes the potential for emotion in other beings, that’s still huge and cool and important and corvids!!! are! neat!!!
Also, by the car stopping for them, that hedgehog has two other species actively working to help it stay alive for no gain of their own.
I keep watching this wondering if this is actual cross-species altruism, and you notice that the corvid keeps moving back behind the hedgie to prod it forward. If it was just harassing the hedgie or playing around, why make such a clear attempt to herd it in a specific direction?
I’m no expert on animal behavior but this seems to also imply that this corvid also specifically understands enough about hedgehogs to understand a hedgehog fear response (curl into a ball and stay still) and how also to get the hedgie moving in spite of that. This is so fascinating.
Animals are dope.