| Title | Nearly-Extinct Hawaiian Crow Can Use Tools to Forage | |
| Date | Thursday September 15 2016, @05:48PM | |
| Author | cmn32480 | |
| Topic | ||
| from the building-rockets-by-next-week dept. | ||
Scientists have discovered evidence of tool use in a species of crow that is extinct in the wild:
A bird so rare that it is now extinct in the wild has joined a clever animal elite - the Hawaiian crow naturally uses tools to reach food. The bird now joins just one other corvid - the New Caledonian crow - in this exclusive evolutionary niche. Dr Christian Rutz from St Andrews University described his realisation that the bird might be an undiscovered tool user as a "eureka moment". He and his team published their findings in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/nature19103] [DX].
[...] According to zoo president Douglas Myers, this study marks an important milestone for the recovery programme. "The discovery that 'alalā naturally use tools is of great significance," he said, "especially at this critical stage of our recovery efforts, as it provides completely unexpected insights into the species' ecological needs." That task consisted of logs with holes and crevices that were baited with food that was just out of a bill's reach. "They were able to pick up sticks from the aviary," said Dr Rutz, "and of all the birds we tested, 93% used [the sticks as] tools. This suggests this is a species-wide skill. "They were incredibly dextrous in the way that they handled the sticks, shortened them when they were too long, and discarded them if they were not happy with them."
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