Editing v0.34:Raven

{{quality|Exceptional|18:45, 26 March 2012 (UTC)}}
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Ravens are relatively benign birds that appear in flocks in most biomes.  Ravens are often too small to be [[butcher|butchered]], but can be a source of [[egg|eggs]] if captured and tamed.  

In combat, they are unable to deal any significant damage to anything with so much as clothes on, but the incessant pecking of a consistent swarm of them can greatly annoy targets without means to fight back against flying creatures, and can utterly tear to shreds small animals such as [[weasel]]s and [[dingo]]es. They are prone to attack dwarven babies and children outside of the fortress, rarely dealing severe damage.


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Ravens have a decent pet value, though they sometimes have the disconcerting habit of tapping on your [[bedroom|chamber]] [[door]]s.

Also, a high-ranking female [[Noble]] may require a tower full of ravens to keep as a symbol of her nobility. To satisfy her request, make sure you devoid the tower of any mean of escape, and only use the magnificent wild ravens (or even better, [[giant raven|giant wild ravens]]).[[Unfortunate accident|She will appreciate it]].

Despite what insane hat crafters may say, a raven is completely unlike a [[table|writing desk.]]

Ravens have a [[butcher|convenient tendency]] to [[giant mosquito#History|show up in large groups]] (according to the [[useless crap|raws]], they should show up in groups of 2 to 10, but ravens are apparently overachievers). They also lay 3 to 7 [[egg]]s at a time, easily rivaling [[cat]]s in reproductive potential (but falling far short of [[duck|certain domestic poultry]]). Raven eggs have a variety of uses, including (but not limited to) [[prepared meal|dwarven science experiments]], [[catapult|nuclear weaponry]], [[trading#Offering items|throwing]] at [[elves|hippies]], and [[unfortunate accident|dropping on parasites from a few dozen z-levels above to see what happens]]. Raven eggs can supposedly also be used to produce more ravens -- how this works is uncertain, but one method is to place raven eggs at the edge of the map, slaughter all existing wild animals (preferably using [[magma]]), waiting for more ravens to spawn, and then using the eggs to make [[alcohol|beer]]. Doubters claim that ravens actually ''emerge from the egg'' after a few months, but everyone knows this is not the case, because a.) Eggs are white and ravens are grey, b.) No egg can last a month in a dwarven fortress without its guard being attacked by <span class="plainlinks">[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Raven ravens]</span>, and c.) Any object as small as an egg must surely contain at least [[dump|several tons of rock]] (otherwise all that space would be wasted), which leaves no room for a delicate baby raven (but plenty of room for a few dozen [[glass|expensive glass windows]]).
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