Stone the Crows !

Animal behaviour experts are scratching their heads over the latest bizarre example of crazy antics in our feathered friends. Reports are flooding in from all over Cavroadia about the local crows performing increasingly off the wall stunts.

The first signs of this behaviour was the appearance of one crow on top of the T Block bioscience building. Students in a science class in nearby G1 alerted their teacher, Dr Darben to a crow perched on one of the "whirly bird" extraction vents.

"This crow was sitting on the whirly bird and spinning around as it turned," said Darben. "We were all expecting it to eventually get off, but it stayed there and seemingly enjoyed the ride for the remaining ten minutes of the lesson. As far as we know it could have stayed there all day."

This crow's behaviour was not the end of it, however. Within a few days, several crows were doing the same trick, spending hours on end twirling around on the whirly birds, and while some kept on riding, other crows congregated around and awaited their turn. At some times of the day, the roof of T block is obscured by a mass of glossy black feathers.

Animal behaviourist Dr Nigel Nuthatch is at a loss to explain the behaviour of the crows.

"These are very intelligent birds," he said. "Whatever they're doing, they are doing it for a reason. Maybe there is a smell rising up from the extraction vents that they like, maybe the silver of the whirly birds is attracting them, it's hard to say. However, the more intelligent and animal is, the more likely it is to indulge in playing behaviour. Maybe they just like getting dizzy."

"The spread through the population is easier to explain," Nuthatch added. "Crows are known to teach complex behaviour to other members of their flock, like opening food containers and pizza boxes. Cavroadian crows have even been observed stealing packets of chips out of students' bags, opening them and sharing them with other crows."

In the meantime, the crows continue to twirl on the roof of the Biosciences building. Dr Darben has shifted his class away from G1 until the birds lose interest. "Once the class saw that one crow, that was the end of the lesson," he said. Now that the whole building is covered with them we can't get any work done.

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