An American crow perched on a railing in the Pacific Northwest

Do Crows Remember Faces? The 17-Year Grudge

October 4, 2026

Do crows remember faces? Yes, and they can hold a grudge for years. In 2006, a University of Washington biologist put on a rubber caveman mask and caught seven crows. For years afterward, crows across campus scolded anyone who wore that mask, including young birds that were never caught.

Quick Facts

Who: John Marzluff, University of Washington
Where: Seattle
When: Trapping in 2006; reactions tracked for about 17 years
Crows caught: Seven, banded and released unharmed
Known for: Proving crows recognize human faces

The Caveman Mask Experiment

To test whether crows recognize faces rather than clothes or walk, Marzluff and his students wore rubber masks. A caveman mask was the dangerous face, worn while they trapped and banded seven crows on campus. A different mask served as a neutral face that never trapped anyone.

The Crows Never Forgot

Afterward, when someone walked through campus in the caveman mask, crows scolded and dive-bombed them. The neutral mask drew little reaction, so the birds were responding to the face itself.

Do Crows Teach Other Crows?

They do. Crows that were never caught joined in, and young crows born years later learned to scold the mask by watching their parents. The warning spread through the crow population.

The End of the Grudge

The scolding faded slowly as the original birds aged and died. On a masked walk in September 2023, about 17 years after the trapping, Marzluff finally drew no scolding at all.

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