So, of all the animals in the world, not a whole lot of them make tools from raw materials, right? Right. There are monkeys and otters using rocks to crack things open, and birds that drop turtles from greater heights top crack the shells (and of course, humans doing everything we do today). Well, it might be time to add another species to the list.
The University of Vienna's Alice Auersperg led a study on Figaro, a Goffin's cockatoo living in an aviary to the west. Basically, the scientists noticed Figaro collecting a pebble from outside his cage...using a stick. The scientists, being curious as they should be, put a cashew outside his reach and filmed it, this video can be found here.
Why is this important you might ask? I'll tell you.
Figaro might be the only cockatoo of his kind recorded to do this, but the article states that his cage-mates have outperformed him in other cognitive tests. Translation: these bird-brains might be smarter than we give them credit for. And if a bird can make a tool to get something it wants, what could other animals do?
Honestly - if I were placed in such a scenario, it would take me forever to get the cashew (I wouldn't even try, I don't eat cashews.) But if I did, I would still not be able to do that very quickly using only my mouth and feet. Not once, and definitely not 9 in 10 times, which is what Figaro did.
The original article by Discover can be found at this site.
No comments:
Post a Comment