[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-155120-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-155120-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","a-murder-of-crows-culling-corvids-in-northern-cyprus","A Murder of Crows - Culling Corvids in Northern Cyprus","","The study evaluates the effectiveness of corvid culling in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and examines how corvid social structure can undermine population-control goals. Although roughly 15,000 corvids are culled annually, valued game-species populations decline and corvid numbers remain high. Drawing on participant observation, archival review, interviews, and genetic analyses of culled specimens, the research tests whether disproportionate targeting of males reduces culling outcomes and assesses the robustness of the culling rationale.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-murder-of-crows-culling-corvids-in-northern-cyprus/155120/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-murder-of-crows-culling-corvids-in-northern-cyprus/155120.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Sarah ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-08-28",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the main focus of the study on corvid culling in Northern Cyprus?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study assesses whether corvid culling effectively controls populations and how corvid social structure may reduce its effectiveness.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why might culling be less effective than expected according to the study’s hypothesis?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Culling may be less effective if males are disproportionately and inadvertently targeted, which matters because reproduction success depends more on females in cooperative and colonial systems.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How did the researchers determine the sex ratio of culled corvids?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"They collected readily available samples from the TRNC Hunting Federation and submitted them to genetic analysis to estimate the sex ratio.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},155120,1787905425,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":97,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":143,"preview_page_count":4},962085320529,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","A Murder of Crows: Culling Corvids in Northern Cyprus  \nKhalil Avi Betz Heinemann 1  & Meryem Betmezoğlu2 & Mahmut Cerkez Ergoren 3,4  & Wayne J. Fuller 2  \nPublished online: 15 May 2020  \n\\# The Author(s) 2020  \nKeywords Corvids . Target species’ social structure . Population densities . Population control . Environmental management strategies . Culling . Breeding strategies . Vermin . Adaptation . TRNC  \nIntroduction  \nCulling, the killing of non-human animals, is practiced worldwide as a form of population control and environmental management. In tandem with other practices, culling is expected to deliver ecosystems valued by those performing such tasks. Examining its efficacy is crucial in maintaining a cull’s legitimacy and ensuring its ecological value.  \nOur study explores the efficacy of corvid culling in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and how corvid social structure can nullify its effectiveness as a form of population control. On average around 15,000 corvids are culled annually in Northern Cyprus (Graph 1) on the grounds that they cause harm to game animal populations such as European hare (Lepus cyprius) and chukar (Alectoris chukar), which are valued hunters’ quarry. However, despite the number of corvids culled every year, their populations remain  \nMurder: Collective noun for a group of crows.  \n* Khalil Avi Betz Heinemann [avikhalil@protonmail.com](avikhalil@protonmail.com)  \nMeryem Betmezoğlu  \n[meryembetmezoglucyrus@gmail.com](meryembetmezoglucyrus@gmail.com)  \nMahmut Cerkez Ergoren  \n[mahmutcerkez.ergoren@neu.edu.tr](mahmutcerkez.ergoren@neu.edu.tr)  \nWayne J. Fuller  \n[wayne.fuller@neu.edu.tr](wayne.fuller@neu.edu.tr)  \n1 Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, England  \n2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus  \n3 Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus  \n4 DESAM Institute, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus  \nhigh, and the populations of valued species meant to be protected through culling continue to diminish.  \nLazenby et al.’s (2014) study on the culling offeral cats in Tasmania provides a clear insight into why culling may not deliver the expected results. The feral cats’ culling, contrary to delivering population reduction, had exacerbated the problem because the social life of the target animals had not been taken into consideration. As a result of culling, copulations and consequently population increased when relieved of the social and competitive checks on reproduction that the culled individuals had formerly provided.  \nTurning to our case study in Northern Cyprus, Hooded crows (Corvux cornix) and Eurasian magpies (Pica pica) are the corvid species culled. Corvids are well known for their intelligence and behavioural plasticity (Baglione and Canestrari 2016; Clayton and Emery 2007) . Such traits can vary according to location and specific population dynamics, with different breeding strategies developing over time (Clayton and Emery 2007) . Cooperative, colonial, and pair breeding have been noted amongst Hooded crows and Eurasian magpies in Europe (Loman 1980) and are best estimated to exhibit a population sex-ratio of 1:1 (Fisher 1999) .  \nDue to biological constraints of sexual rather than asexual reproduction, the reproductive success of corvid populations is more dependent on females than males, especially in cooperative and colonial breeding systems. Therefore, we hypothesized that culling is less effective than anticipated if males are disproportionately and inadvertently targeted.  \nDuring this research, we worked with members of the TRNC Hunting Federation, who collect the heads of culled corvids in order to receive state subsidies. Using these readily available samples and submitting them to genetic analysis, it was possible to obtain a sex ratio of these culled individuals and thus to test whether our hypothesis was co","cbCaiarTyKPTLqND","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiarTyKPTLqND","pdf",249510,"English","# Introduction\n# Materials and Methods\n## Participant Observation and Archival Review\n## Interviews and Genetic Analysis","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of the study on corvid culling in Northern Cyprus?\",\"answer\":\"The study assesses whether corvid culling effectively controls populations and how corvid social structure may reduce its effectiveness.\"},{\"question\":\"Why might culling be less effective than expected according to the study’s hypothesis?\",\"answer\":\"Culling may be less effective if males are disproportionately and inadvertently targeted, which matters because reproduction success depends more on females in cooperative and colonial systems.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the researchers determine the sex ratio of culled corvids?\",\"answer\":\"They collected readily available samples from the TRNC Hunting Federation and submitted them to genetic analysis to estimate the sex ratio.\"}]","A Murder of Crows - Culling Corvids in Northern Cyprus | PDF",13]