The raven is one of the most widespread birds in the world. Ravens gulp down their food in chunks, and then, like owls, cough up a pellet of all the indigestibles. Boarman displays a raven pellet that contains some aluminum foil, the shell from a beetle, bones from a rodent and a tortoise leg. Humans do not generally regard ravens as beautiful. But they are clever.
Ravens are incredibly intelligent.
Bernd Heinrich, professor of biology at the University of Vermont and perhaps the world's leading authority on ravens, demonstrated ravens' intelligence in a classic experiment in 1990. Several birds successfully got at the meat by pulling the string up and stepping on the pulled-up loops, until they grasped the food. I thought it demonstrated that ravens could see through a situation and figure out the answer. Ravens are also good mimics. They can imitate barking dogs, flowing creeks, even human speech.