2

In a lecture on the "Meaning Crisis", John Vervaeke, an assistant professor of cognitive science at the University of Toronto, and a colleague of Jordan B. Peterson, states:

Caledonian crows will tumble down roofs in order to make themselves dizzy for no other purpose than to alter their state of consciousness.

I believe vertigo does affect animals other than humans, including birds, which makes me wonder why any animal would intentionally induce such an awful feeling, and why crows specifically, as opposed to any other animal that could easily do this (think dog chasing their tail for example) if they actually enjoyed the experience.

Google did not yield any matches resembling this claim. Is this claim supported by evidence?

Arnon Weinberg
  • 842
  • 8
  • 12
  • 4
    The crows do act like that (there's plenty of videos that show this). I always assumed it's just *fun* for them. Most intelligent animals play games in one way or another. I'd be interested in seeing exactly which studies they have done to say that they instead do this because it makes them feel dizzy... do we really know what they feel in that circumstance? I'm skeptical about that... – Giacomo Alzetta Apr 17 '19 at 07:16
  • 1
    Not Caledonian, but another anecdote of a crow making itself dizzy: https://theviewfromadrawbridge.com/2018/04/23/uni-the-crow/ – Henry Apr 17 '19 at 07:48
  • 3
    Several kids - specially small ones - like to get dizzy just for the fun of it. I wouldn't put above some animals doing it for no other reason than to have some fun, too. – T. Sar Apr 17 '19 at 11:47
  • Thanks all for the great comments. Kids and many animals certainly like to spin. But I remember from my days on the carousel that when I got dizzy is when I wanted off. Having (unintentionally) made a cat dizzy once by spinning it on my office chair, I got the distinct impression (via a loud pained yowl) that it felt the same. – Arnon Weinberg Apr 17 '19 at 12:28
  • When we were little me and my sister used to roll down the hill of my grandparents house all the time. It was entertaining (we also usually didn't get that dizzy). – JMac Apr 17 '19 at 14:03
  • 2
    @ArnonWeinberg Your mileage may vary from individual to individual. Some people really enjoy getting dizzy in controlled environments, others don't like it at all. I know that I, personally, love my spinning office chair and the fun it gives me when I have to wait a couple minutes while building a huge project. (don't judge me.) – T. Sar Apr 17 '19 at 14:35
  • Generally, we can't accept questions about *motivations* because they are impossible to prove. This one is even more so, because you are asking the motivations of animals. There is no way of knowing the answer to this. – Oddthinking Apr 17 '19 at 15:00
  • It's probably best to ask this on biology SE. It looks like it may serve other purposes as well (e.g. cleaning themselves) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TKXUyAZ-ek – Fizz Apr 17 '19 at 18:58
  • @Oddthinking I suspected as much as well, but I figured that if I could at least find some study or report on Caledonian crows tumbling down roofs, then maybe it would provide a clue as to what Vervaeke might be interpreting as motivation. – Arnon Weinberg Apr 17 '19 at 18:59
  • Also if you know about the crows behavior (they often side-step) having them laterally fall over a slippery slope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ta33bMB70 isn't too surprising. – Fizz Apr 17 '19 at 19:47

0 Answers0