I'm in Raven heaven. Oh, I just slow away. I'm in Sitka in Alaska and I've never seen so many Ravens in my life. It's amazing.

Every time I hear the croak of a Raven, it stops me in my tracks. I've started to record them on my phone. When I was in Alaska last year, I walked into this dark forest on the edge of town, had a creek running through it.

I was in Salmon's Borning and the forest was full of Ravens. It's about 30 Ravens flying over my head right now. This has got to be the Ravencow of the world.

I love the sounds they make. It always seems like they have something to say, like they're talking to each other. And that sound of their giant wings cutting through the air as they fly.

They're impressive. A wingspan of around four feet, sometimes more. They can live over 20 years in the wild and they've adapted to life all across the Northern Hemisphere.

For Native American people, the big black bird was the creator of the world. It's different in Sweden. Their folklore says Ravens are the ghosts of murdered people who died without Christian burials.

But my favorite is Odin, the Norse god. He had two Ravens and every day they flew the Earth and came back to him, delivering news. They were his eyes, mind and memory.

We've revered, admired and feared Ravens for a long time because of their intelligence.

Today, scientists are learning that Ravens and other members of the Crow family have some very advanced cognitive abilities.

There's one thing I've learned about these birds. It is to stop being surprised by them.

Because you could just, I mean, it's just endless. So at this point, I'm just kind of an open door. And if someone's like, hey, did you know Ravens are better at calculus than you?

I'd probably be like, okay.

Because it's just an endless parade of really fascinating behaviors. Their bird brain is something quite remarkable. It's capable of love, deceit, and even planning for the future. Stuff that rivals the great apes.

So today, we're going to look at exactly what's going on between the ears of a Raven and how this highly evolved brain helps them thrive. From KUW in Seattle, I'm Chris Morgan. Welcome to the Wild.

Growing up in England, I was used to seeing Ravens in the Lake District and up in Scotland. But I didn't give them much thought until I was in my mid-20s working on a Grizzly Bear research project in the Canadian Rockies.

And here they took on a whole new meaning because whenever you hear a Raven in Grizzly Country, it could mean a Grizzly is around.

Because the Ravens eat Grizzly Bear kills and they usually get pretty noisy about it. And my job at the time was to look for Grizzly Bear kills to find out what they'd been eating.

So the Ravens became my allies in that search.

But also made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck because the Ravens were telling me there might be a Grizzly Bear around.

To this day when I hear them, I have the same feelings. I love these birds. There's something mysterious about them for sure, but it's also that intelligence.

I think it's all part of the allure for the scientists who study them. Why are you excited about Ravens?

Why am I excited about Ravens? So do you want the long version or the short version?

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