Principia

Well, this <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/crow/index.html" target="_blank">article</a> left me a little speechless.

Autonemesis

Cool!! I mean, CAW!!!

Philosoft

Now that's something to crow about!

Demigawd

That bird isn't really displaying tool-using skills. He's just winging it.

Principia

Here's more <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0808_020808_crow.html" target="_blank">background</a> about Betty the crow.

Tom Sawyer

Well, if the 100th monkey theory is true, birds all over the world are going to start breaking out of their flimsiliy locked cages and start pooping all over the house.

Foratunately, the food chain still works and the house cats can save people the world over from expensive cleaning bills.

tronvillain

Of course, the "hundred monkey" theory is not true, so we have nothing to worry about.

Marduk

My Parrot hasn't started using tools yet, but she did manage to unscrew the bolts on her cage, I came home from work one day to find her strutting around on top of her birdhouse, with the bolts to the door lying on the floor. I had to come up with a way to keep the nuts & bolts protected from her beek.
(I rearranged the wood perches in her cage so they block access to the srews & such)

Gringo

Corvids, especially crows, are smarter than most if not all the rest of the species of birds. They have about 25 different calls, including a moribund call, which they make just before giving up to a predator or taking some 4 shot high brass from a 12 guage. Their flocks are highly socialized-- they use lookouts when flocks are feeding, teamwork to mob owls and hawks, and sentries to make sure their not falling for any human tricks.

ksagnostic

This is indeed interesting news. Corvids and Psittacids (parrots) have indeed shown impressive cognitive skills. However, I am always disappointed when I read the popular science press and see uncritical acceptance of claims such as:

"The feat, it is said, makes her the first animal other than a human that has shown a clear understanding of cause and effect, and fashioned a tool for a specific task using new materials not encountered in the wild.

Not even chimpanzees, our closest cousins, have this ability."

This from the CNN article on Betty, found here:

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/09/crow.betty/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/09/crow.betty/index.html</a>

This claim is absolute horseshit. Chimpanzees have also fashioned tools "using new materials not found in the wild" in laboratories since the 1920's (e.g., Sultan). This claim will also crack up any keeper who has dealt with orangutans. An orangutan in Omaha became infamous for finding a wire and using it to pick a lock and escape his enclosure (he also successfully hid his pick for several days). Because of their ability to fiddle with things, combined with an almost unlimited attention span, orangutans are justly considered the number one escape risks in zoos.

This kind of thing occurs when an investigator gets so excited about his/her results with an animal that s/he has to claim not only are the results extraordinary, but that "no other animal has demonstrated that ability". When asked to provide evidence, they might point you to some Rossane Rossana Danna critic who claimed that the chimp or orangutan didn't really learn what s/he appeared to learn. Of course, exactly the same sort of claim can, and almost certainly will, be made about Betty the crow, if she gets enough attention.

[ August 11, 2002: Message edited by: ksagnostic ]</p>