Raven

"CAW CAW CAW! CAW CAW?"

- Raven

Ravens are black, flightless birds that seem to be both allies and enemies of Mario.

Appearances
Ravens first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, where they could be found walking around large, floating rocks. If they ran into Yoshi, they would send Baby Mario flying off his back, an act even more dangerous since these Ravens were usually found on rocks high in the air. Yoshi can defeat them by stomping their heads or by throwing eggs, but could not eat them. A large Raven named Raphael the Raven seems to be the leader of all the birds.

Ravens make a return appearance in Yoshi's Story. In the game, they acted the same way as they did in their past appearance, but were immune to all of Yoshi's attacks.

Up until Paper Mario, all Ravens seemed to be minions of Baby Bowser and Kamek (influenced by Raphael the Raven's appearance in Tetris Attack), but in Paper Mario, a friendly group of Ravens can be encountered on Lavalava Island. These Ravens (including, oddly, Raphael the Raven himself) help Mario and his party reach Mt. Lavalava. This games also proves that Ravens have their own language (which mostly consists of the word "caw"), although some can speak in human tongue. The Ravens in this game also have the ability to fly by flapping their feet.

Despite this brief period of alliance, the Raven's appearances in Yoshi's Universal Gravitation and Super Princess Peach (the latter of which exclusively gave them Mini-Ravens' qualities and introduced a sub-species known as Sad Ravens) seem to imply that they have returned to their previous engagement with Bowser, or possibly some of the Ravens didn't want to join to the good guys with their master.

Sub-Species

 * Mini-Ravens - Small, possibly juvenile Ravens who move quickly.
 * Sad Ravens - Ravens who create earthquakes while crying hysterically.

Trivia

 * Despite the fact that they are called Ravens, they have almost nothing in common with the aforementioned birds. Real ravens are (for the most part) small and fast black scavengers with sharp beaks; the Ravens of the Mario series are slow-moving, wingless, with elliptical beaks which resemble more a nose than a beak. The only similarities are the coloring of the birds, the sound they make and, only in Paper Mario, their ability to fly.