The Caw Society

Over last weekend while I was enjoying the few late mornings that I am blessed with, a few hundred crows decided to spoil it for me. There was continuous cawing in one side of our neighbourhood and I woke up sleepily to check what it was.
I was quite stunned to see the hundred odd birds perched across our building , neighbourhood apartments and the trees or electric poles in the vicinity.All of them were cawing in unison and there seemed to be good communciation between all of them.
It took a few minutes for me to realize the cause of their agitation. There was a dead crow on the terrace of the next door apartment and all the crows were apparently were mourning its death. This continued for about half an hour. After some time all the crows departed. About 1 hour later there was another similar assembly. Here couple of ravens came near the dead bird and started plucking its feathers.
I have no idea what this behavior meant, but it set me thinking of another story that a recent aquintee mentioned.
He was working in a reputed law firm in Mumbai and was a regular on the Andheri - Churchgate local train. Though he did see a person lying on the tracks near Andheri, he like other fellow travellers took it in their regular stride. 2 days later, while he was reading the Mid-Day paper, it mentioned that there was a decompoising body near tracks in Andheri which people realized becuase of the stench...
Well..are we humans have declared ourselves as social, emotional and intelligent supreme beings... now maybe its time to contest that...