Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 11:58:00 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Re: CNN article: Crow shows she's no bird-brain In-Reply-To: <46368A064341D611B4FE0002A5136898637FD2@aples2.jhuapl.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi all -- Actually, the Marianas Crow, an endangered species, has been known for years to make specific tools for the purposes of extracting insects from logs etc. The birds select and break twigs to the correct length and also retain the tools as they move from site to site. We had a fellow from USFWS speak to the Montgomery Co. MOS on the (also endangered) Hawaiian Crow and he mentioned the species from the Marianas Islands, remarking that if it were to go extinct, we would lose one of the few known tool-making species. Other birds that have been observed to make tools include captive Blue Jays and the Palm Cockatoo, which uses a bit of branch to beat on a hollow log as a means of territorial display. Some individuals have been seen to carefully select and modify appropriate "drum-sticks" so this, too, is close to tool-making. Om a personal note, a number of years ago I and a friend were attending one of the FONZ Zoo Nights. We went to the bird house after hours, and walked around. Other than ourselves, the only people there were folks watching a keeper doing a demonstration at the bird house entrance. We walked around to the glass cage containing (at that time) two Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. As we watched in astonishment, one of the birds broke off a piece of bamboo branch about 18" long (a bunch of bamboo branches were in the cage aparently as decor or maybe as something for the energetic birds to rip apart!). Holding the branch in his foot, he proceeded to break off all the side shoots flush with the main stem. He then carefully broke this stem to a length of about 8". Then, still holding the branch in his foot, he used it to scratch his back, rump, under his wings and the nape of his neck (all places hard to reach by oneself if you are a parrot)! We rushed around to where the keeper still was, and told him about the bird making a back-scratcher, and he hurried around to the cage, saying "dang, I have heard about him doing that but have never seen it!" Unfortunately, the bird had dropped the twig by the time we got back. The whole operation was very deliberate and (based on previous reports from other visitors) routinely repeated. Birds may not really be "bird brains" after all! Cheers, Gail Mackiernan Colesville, MD On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Wilkerson, Jordan T. wrote: > We all know crows are smart; now someone is trying to measure it... > > http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/09/crow.betty/index.html > > OXFORD, England -- Oxford scientists have discovered that a crow called > Betty is no bird-brain. > Betty astonished scientists by deliberately bending a straight wire into a > hook and using it to extract food from a container, the journal Science said > on Friday. > 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. > > Jordan Wilkerson > Cloverly, MD > Montgomery County > jordan.wilkerson@jhuapl.edu > jandk@jordanandkaren.com > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================