Before SEALs Found Bin Laden, Military Considered Using Crows

It's the type of story that's almost too bizarre to be true. But both military officials and researchers at the University of Washington have confirmed that the U.S. military once considered using flocks of crows to track down Osama bin Laden. 

According to news reports, John Marzluff, a wildlife sciences professor at the university, was contracted years ago by the military to study crows and their ability to recognize human faces.

Crows' innate facial recognition capabilities make them a unique asset -- unless they're trained to track you down of course. 

KING 5 in Seattle reports:

Marzluff and his team wore caveman masks when they captured and tagged crows on the UW campus. To this day, if they wear those masks, they are harassed by flocks of crows following their every step. When they take the masks off, the crows leave them alone.

The military heard of this research and considered the possibility of using crows to recognize missing soldiers or even the world's most wanted terrorist, bin Laden.

Marzluff said he could train the crows to idenfity bin Laden by harassing (or even killing) them while wearing an Osama mask. Over time, he said, "word" would spread to crows around the world.