Crows Are Smarter Than You Think

The coroner realized that he might have made a mistake, a huge mistake. There was the very real possibility that he might have given out a death certificate for a corpse that wasn't dead. The body had been buried somewhere in the woods because nobody had claimed it and the city could not afford to bury it within its limits. The man had died under very unusual circumstances. The body had a virus that he had never seen before. The coroner took samples from the body for future testing. As the days past the coroner realized that the body was likely not dead but in a coma and the body would revive itself after a couple of months. But this was knowledge that he didn't have a week ago. It was an ethical dilemma and a major mistake that may ruin his career, and if anyone found out that he withheld this information about this virus he would never be able to practice medicine again. He made the decision. He would have to find the body in the woods. 

​The coroner got into contact with the undertaker to exhume the body, but the undertaker said he wasn't sure where it was because he did not put any type of cross or tombstone on the burial mound. The undertaker also said that as he was adjusting the body in the coffin he was attacked by a murder of crows. He initially thought the crows were attacking him but they were trying to get at the corpse to eat it. The undertaker then slammed the coffin door shut to avoid any more contact with the contaminated body. He had just dug a hole in the ground and lowered the coffin in it. The undertaker said he had a general idea as to where it was but couldn't be sure. The two men spent a whole day searching in the woods and came up with nothing. The coroner realized his career was finished. 

The whole day they searched until they noticed a massive murder of crows about a mile away. The coroner got to thinking and said to the undertaker, "You know that whenever there is a fresh body put into the ground the crows will peck away at the surface to see how deep the body is in the earth. How deep dig you dig, six feet?"

"No, only enough to cover the coffin. The coffin lid is at the surface of the ground." The undertaker admitted. 

"Then it is possible that the crows could sniff out the body. You know that only humans and ravens are smarter than crows. Let's go check it out."

The two men walked the mile to where the murder of crows were swarming. As they drew closer the crows swooped and divebombed the men. They reached the area and the undertaker identified the earth where the body was buried. Frantically the two men dug with their hands as the crows attacked them. Within a couple of minutes they reached the coffin. The coroner ripped open the coffin door...

He screamed as several dozen crows flew out of the coffin and there was the body eaten to the bone by the crows...

The undertaker turned to the coroner and said, "Crows are smarter than you think."