The reason why Hallasan Mountain crows prefer cup noodles over meat

A flock of crows on Hallasan Mountain in Jeju shows a unique behavior of particularly preferring cup noodles over meat or snacks. According to the January 19, 2007, broadcast footage of 'A Top Secret of 50 Million People' on KBS Animal TV : Animal for You animal4u, a phenomenon occurs where flocks of crows gather so thickly that they blacken the sky to eat the ramen left behind by hikers on Hallasan Mountain.

The obsession of Hallasan Mountain crows with ramen, even rejecting meat

Crows, which are omnivorous birds, are generally known to prefer meat the most. However, the crows observed on Hallasan Mountain revealed their peculiar dietary habits through an experiment. In a test prepared by the production team, the crows chose ramen over snacks and even showed an obsession with focusing solely on ramen, rejecting even meat, which was expected to be their favorite. Furthermore, they showed very picky tastes, such as not touching other types of ramen brought from the outside and only reacting to a specific type of ramen sold at the snack shop.

This phenomenon is a peculiar case that is hard to find in crows from other regions. Crows in nearby areas showed an indifferent response to situations where ramen was being eaten, but the Hallasan Mountain crows showed such a strong obsession that they engaged in psychological warfare to seize the containers as soon as ramen appeared. The behavior of these crows also serves a dual purpose by disposing of food waste abandoned during hiking.

A special connection with a snack shop owner who cared for an injured crow

Behind the background of why the Hallasan Mountain crows became so obsessed with ramen, there was a special connection with a woman who was a former owner of a snack shop. The participant in the video revealed that about five years ago, she protected and cared for an injured crow. At that time, the crow, which did not eat ramen at first, began to eat it, and it appears that this eating habit was formed as other crows saw this and naturally began to eat ramen as well.

The participant built a bond with the crows by sharing ramen with them every day until two years ago when she was running the snack shop. In this process, the crows follow her like a 'mother' and even surround her. This flock of crows, which has become the mascot of Hallasan Mountain, has acquired the unique ecological characteristic of enjoying ramen more than meat through interaction with a specific person and repeated learning.