Kaeli Swift

Animal behaviorist

Kaeli Swift wants to know everything about crows, including what they can teach us about the evolution of cognition and social behaviors.

Why you should listen

Kaeli Swift researches what crows do around unfamiliar dead crows, and how this compares to the behaviors of other non-human social animals. Currently, she is a Post-Doctoral researcher in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington where she studies songbird ecology.

Kaeli Swift’s TED Talks

Kaeli Swift
What crows can teach us about death
14 minutes 30 seconds
Humans have paid attention to the behaviors of animals around their dead for centuries, but science has only recently given it more serious study. This talk explores what animals, particularly crows, do around their dead and what this might teach us about the evolution of our own behaviors. To learn more about Dr. Swifts research you can check out her blog https://corvidresearch.blog/
Posted Feb 2020
Kaeli Swift
What crows teach us about death
13 minutes 14 seconds
Rituals for the dead span much of the natural world, seen in practices from humans and elephants to bees, dolphins and beyond. With charm and playful insight, animal behaviorist Kaeli Swift delves into the life (and death) habits of crows and shares what their responses could reveal about our own relationship to mortality.
Posted Oct 2020