Tool Use

Us humans love to show off about how we can use tools. Hurray for humans, we can use spades and guns. But seriously, it’s a leap of intelligence to realise that one thing can be used for another purpose to achieve a goal. Chimps are good at it, and so are we. Egyptian vultures use rocks to crack ostrich eggs, the woodpecker finch gets insects out of logs with twigs.

Urban crows in Japan have been noticed cracking nuts in an ingenious way, they drop them into traffic to get crushed then wait for the lights to turn red and the cars to stop, before going down to pick them up. That my friends, is pretty smart.

New Caledonian crows were right at the top of the tree when bird brains were given out. Here’s a video of one solving a puzzle where he has to use three tools in the right order to get his delicious prize. It’s the first time a non-monkey type of animal has ever been recorded doing something similar:

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofjo26O0z_o’]

Some herons are smart enough to use bait when they fish. This is pretty cool. Here’s a green heron fishing with bits of bread in Grenada:

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSClutBjeHk’]

So, to wrap things up, I hope I have convinced you in some small way that the birds of this earth should not be talked down to anymore. Calling someone a bird brain should, from now on, count as a compliment.

So good night my fine bird brained friends. May your nest be forever dry and your eggs forever warm.

☛ More Bird Stuff: DEAD BIRD FOUND IN TESCO SALAD