From Dave Riddlestone, Farnborough, Hampshire, UK
Your feature traces the history of hominid art, but quickly dispatches the creations of the bowerbird as not art. I think it is a mistake to be so dismissive (18 November, p 32 and Leader).
On Valentine’s Day some years ago, I watched a pair of carrion crows outside my window. The male had placed a small white object on the grass and was creating a rosette of dead oak leaves around it, carefully placing each leaf, then looking up at the female. With each leaf, she hopped a bit closer. Was the rosette art? It was symmetrical and certainly wasn’t stereotyped. The male crow was more creative than me with my shop-bought card for my wife.
