People on the internet have a new favorite person — this one has taught crows to attack MAGA hats. Dave has successfully trained crows to target unsuspecting MAGA hat wearers and snatch their red caps.
The red caps, featuring MAGA or Make America Great Again, have become iconic symbols of support for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Highlights
- Dave trained crows over seven months to attack and remove red MAGA hats from unsuspecting wearers.
- The training involved gradual challenges, from interacting with covered food to lifting red containers.
- Dave used consistent feeding spots and offered peanuts, chicken scraps, mealworms, and kibble to gain the crows' trust.
- Six crows successfully learned to lift red hats, with Dave sharing the process online to inspire resistance.
Dave, who goes by the username “biz_dave” on Threads, went viral after sharing the various stages of his training process.
An internet user has taught crows to target MAGA hat wearers and snatch the hats
Image credits: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“Some folks want to befriend crows, or get them to bring trinkets. I have… other goals,” Dave wrote alongside a video. The video features a crow going after a red hat and dropping it, finding food underneath the hat. Then another crow joins in on the action.
Dave laid out the seven-month-long process to train the crows to attack red hats in a “Crow Training” thread. “Getting the crows to come regularly to the feeding place took the longest. That was about a 4 month endeavor,” he explained of the start of his process.
“Once they were coming regularly, it was only about 3 months to get them to the hat removal stage.”
Image credits: biz_dave/threads
He also listed the food he would offer the crows, while recommending “sticking to peanuts, chicken scraps, mealworms, and dog kibble.” Dave noted the first thing he did was “establish a consistent feeding space.”
“Every day I put out peanuts, chicken scraps, and kibble in the same spot. Once they were regular customers, I took the same space and covered the food with a plastic tupperware dish,” he wrote.
He observed, “They could see the food, but needed to interact with the dish to get it. The whole process took about 3 days. I came to learn this was normal with a new puzzle. One day to be scared of it, one to investigate, and one to solve. I didn't have my video cam set up at this point.”
Once the crows started to take off transparent plastic barriers, Dave upped their challenge with an opaque red cup. “I initially placed peanuts and other food all around in order to get them to strike it,” Dave noted. The birds can be seen striking the red cup in the video, running away, and slowly returning to eat the food.
Once the crows had begun striking the red cup, Dave trained them to strike and flip them simultaneously. “They took to striking the red cup pretty quickly, so after that skill was mastered, I started focusing on flipping things over in order to get their premium treats,” he said.
He added another obstacle and set up a new contraption with the red cup on top of a transparent container, consisting of unroasted peanuts and freeze-dried mealworms.
After mastering striking, Dave started working on lifting. He hot-glued key rings onto the top of a clear plastic butter dish. He noted, “They picked up on this concept very quickly.”
The next stage was the same concept, but with a key ring glued to a red container.
The user, Dave, has a several-phase process to train crows that he shared online
Image credits: biz_dave/threads
“This stage was difficult for me to figure out and for the crows to solve. I needed an opaque red target that couldn't just be knocked over. It had to be lifted in the air,” Dave explained.
“I found a red plastic butter dish that could completely enclose the food. For the ring on top, I twisted some thick wire into a soft ring, then hot glued it to the top of the lid,” he said, breaking the process down and adding, “I also had to glue the dish down so that it could not be knocked over. It sat like this for several days, with little bits of food sticking out as the crows basically ignored it.”
The crows finally figured it out, picking up the red butter dish, which weighs as much as a hat. “Once they figured it out, they did it every day without fail,” Dave rejoiced, moving onto the final phase of his training: the red hats.
Dave secured the key ring all around the hat using wire. He observed the crows were reluctant to interact with the hat, but didn't have a problem with the “lifting” concept.
Finally, he removed the rings. “This did not present a problem at all,” he said. “Once they got to this point, I was able to even get footage of me setting the target out and them hitting it within a two-minute window.”
Dave has trained six birds to date, and has used his posts to encourage more people to do this, saying there’s “no longer a moral option.” Social media users cheered him on in the comments.
Image credits: biz_dave/threads
“Just checking, you are aware that collaborating consciously with nature to overthrow oppression and bring sovereignty is magic? You’re a wizard Harry, and I couldn’t be more delighted to see this!” one person replied on Threads. “This is brilliant!” cheered another.
“Dave, you are an evil genius and deserve the "Mwah ha ha" award for evil geniusity,” said a third. “I wonder if you can train them to shit on red hats,” a fourth user joked.
Image credits: biz_dave/threads
Some also relayed concern, pointing out possibly negative outcomes for the birds. “Are you concerned that a human will harm them for this behavior? Some red-hat wearers are not the nicest people,” one user said.
Explaining his mission, Dave wrote, “I think animals are amazing, I love the psychology of training, and I was feeling like doing some sort of resistance that could bring in an element of absurdity. So, I set a goal, laid out my plan, and you see the results.”