The enigma of the raven

Bernd Heinrich and Maine ravens are exemplars of Despret's concepts of politeness, "faire connaissance" and recruitment. He was dissuaded by his mentor from studying them due to their intelligence and their recalcitrance against reductive methods. Gaining their condence would take years. Once he did so they allowed him to see an astonishing range of behaviors and they accepted him as a socius. This was research that took into account the interests of the ravens themselves to answer complicated questions about their behavior. Ravens also practice this intermingling of interests and action with wolves. © 2015 Taylor & Francis.