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Empathy Is For the Birds

Posted by samzenpus on from the polly-want-to-make-an-emotional-connection? dept.

grrlscientist writes "Common Ravens have been shown to express empathy towards a 'friend' or relative when they are distressed after an aggressive conflict — just like humans and chimpanzees do. But birds are very distant evolutionary relatives of Great Apes, so what does this similarity imply about the evolution of behavior?"

2 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. damn by cti · · Score: 5, Funny

    man, i saw the title and was hoping ubuntu ditched empathy and went back to pidgin....

  2. Re:Not sure about evolution... by Psaakyrn · · Score: 4, Funny

    "After 10 years in Alaska, I've only seen one dead raven. It had been fried on the power line above my friends truck while he was sitting in it eating his lunch. Plonk!...in the back of the truck it fell. It is so rare to find a dead raven that the Dept. of Fish and Game wanted the corpse for study."

    So that's the raven's equivalent to joining the Darwin Awards?