Ravens can talk! / Cool facts about White-Necked Ravens

This is Mischief the White-Necked Raven. These ravens are found throughout eastern and southern Africa, and are common near human habitation.

Like all members of the Corvidae family, ravens are extremely intelligent. They use tools to get food if necessary, and can even mimic human speech!

Cool facts about White-Necked Ravens:

- Their main diet is fruit, insects, and small reptiles, but if they find a small tortoise to eat, they will lift it up and drop it to the ground to break the shell.

- Ravens are some of the smartest of all animals.

- Since they are very social by nature, ravens are also some of the most playful of birds.

- Ravens display a strange behavior in the wild called "anting". They roll around on anthills, let the ants crawl all over them, and then they chew up the ants and rub them through their feathers. Scientists are unsure why they do this.