Common ravens are monogamous and can live for more than 30 years, but North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre assistant manager Julie Mackey said the white birds don't tend to live as long or breed as well as their black cousins.

She said there are a few tiny populations scattered around the mid-Island that may all be related, with sightings in Port Alberni, Comox and Tofino. Sightings elsewhere around the world are extremely rare.The local birds have been the subject of several books and news and magazine reports across the country.

As a result of research conducted by a team in Sweden, ravens can make plans for the future showed.

The research team said that these birds are equally skilled in planning and are capable of making decisions for future emergencies. This research with ravens offered clues as to how intelligence evolved in birds.

Usually associated with death and dark portents, the raven is, in some ways, a mysterious bird. There were many stories, rumors and beliefs about ravens from past to present. Numerous stories about ravens' intelligence can be heard; because they are thought to be the smartest birds among the crow.

In a study conducted in Austria, it was seen that they point an object to each other with their beak and hold an object with its beak to attract the attention of a bird. These gestures were the first natural movements to be observed in animals other than primates. When they're in captivity, they can learn to speak better than parrots. They can also mimic the car engine, siphon sound and other birds.

How were the Ravens Known in the Past? In many cultures from Greece to Tibet, it was believed that these birds were sent as heralds of God. Celtic war goddesses took the form of ravens when fighting. Odin, the Viking god, has two ravens, Hugin and Munin, who travel the world every day and bring him news. The Chinese believed that ravens brought the bad weather to tell them that God was coming. Some Indians worshiped the raven as a deity they believed to have created the world.

In many European cultures, these black birds are seen as evil beings. In France, crows are thought to be the spirits of enchanted nuns, while ravens are thought to be priest spirits. In Germany it is believed that the cursed souls are the incarnation of the spirits or the devil itself; In Sweden, the night-ravens were thought to be the souls of Christian bodies that were not properly burned.

In Denmark, these birds were described as beings possessed by the devil, and when the groove on their wings was examined, they were believed to be transformed into ravens. According to a legend, after Noah's ark sat on the mountain, the Prophet Noah first sent a raven, and the bird flew in circles and did not come back. Noah sent a pigeon this time and returned to the ship because he could not find a place to roost. Seven days later he sent another pigeon with an olive branch in his beak.

The raven, which was initially white in color, was cursed for not returning and turned black in color. According to the British, magpie is the first hybrid of pigeon and raven sent by Noah and therefore its feathers are black and white. He showed Adam and Eve the raven how to perform the first burial.

When Abel's dead, they don't know what to do. A raven then kills one of his own kind, then digs a hole in the ground and buries the body, so Adam and Eve imitate him and bury his sons.