From Hugh Colvin
So ravens pick up sticks in their beaks and wave them about to attract a partner, and develop complex individual vocalisations, behaviours that could be deliberate and intelligent, or simply down to hormonal triggers (3 December, p 16).
I pick up my gold-plated saxophone, stick it in my mouth and wave it about, which is how I met my partner. I, too, have developed a complex set of quasi-vocalisations: the sax approximates more closely to the modulations and overtones in the human voice than any other instrument.
“Are the ravens doing the same as us?” is as unanswerable as “Are we doing the same as the ravens?”
Knighton, Powys, UK
