Raven

-Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Family: Corvidae

Order: Passeriformes

Genus: Corvus

Species: Corvus corax

-Evolution

All Subspecies:

• Corvus corax principalis

• Corvus corax kamtschaticus

• Corvus corax laurencei

• Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus

• Corvus corax corax

• Corvus corax sinuatus

• Corvus corax hispanus

• Corvus corax tibetanus

• Corvus corax varius

• Corvus corax clarionensis

• Corvus corax tingitanus

How long has this species been in existence: 3 million years. 

Closest living relative to this species: jackdaws, jays, magpies and choughs. 

3 ancestors of this species: Holarctic raven and an ancestral western North American raven, there was also the Californian raven. 

-Description

Large birds with a massive/thick neck and shaggy neck feathers. They a have big “Bowie knife of a beak”. When flying, they have long wedge shaped stairs and they tend to be more slender than crows with longer and narrower wings, and longer thinner feathers that look like fingers on their wingtips. 

Point key characteristics of species: dark feathers, biggest passerine, dark beak, long skinny “fingers”. 

Size: average 25 inches in length. 

Weight: average 2.6 pounds in weight.

Life Span: 10-15 years. 

Differences between Males and Females: they are very alike, although the female might be slightly smaller.