Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Together with Australian lyrebirds, ravens are the biggest songbirds of the world.

Common Raven can reach the wingspan of 130 cm which corresponds to the size of a smaller goose. All the corvid family is known mainly due to their intelligence. Most of them are used for various ethological experiments. For instance, videos with New Caledonian Crows, which use various subjects to reach the food, are very popular.

Common Raven inhabits almost all the northern hemisphere, roughly from the Tropic of Cancer. It lives in monogamy and its display is highly variable, consisting of various ethological expressions. Up to the density of resources, the territory of one nesting pair can have a size of 3 – 70 km².

Diet of Common Raven contains almost everything eatable. In nature, ravens serve as the health police because they feed on the carrions. On the other hand, they don´t despise live food. They can hunt on the smaller vertebrates as well and cases, when the ravens killed a little lamb, are also known.

The species is highly adaptable and it can nest on the rocks, trees, buildings and on the ground too.

In nature, they can reach up to the age of twenty years, but in the captivity, the length of their life can be four times longer.