Animals Using Tools
clever critters
Animals Using Tools
clever critters
People used to think that only humans use tools. In the past fifty years, scientists have studied tool use in many kinds of animals. The animals don’t buy hammers and hooks at a hardware store, but they do use rocks as hammers, and sticks as hooks!
One of Aesop’s Fables, “The Crow and the Pitcher,” tells of a crow who was smart enough to use stones as tools:
"A crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a pitcher which he beheld at some distance. When he came, he found water in it indeed, but so near the bottom, that with all his stooping and straining, he was not able to reach it. Then he endeavored to overturn the pitcher, that so at least he might be able to get a little of it; but his strength was not sufficient for this. At last, seeing some pebbles lie near the place, he cast them one by one into the pitcher; and thus, by degrees, raised the water up to the very brim, and satisfied his thirst." |
Aesop wrote “The Crow and the Pitcher” more than 2500 years ago. But it turned out to be true! Do you want proof?
Here is a short video of a crow dropping clay blocks into tubes of water. The crow is trying to reach pieces of food floating on the water. He has to drop blocks into the tubes to make the water levels rise, so he can reach the food. One tube is too wide; the blocks can’t raise the water much. The crow realizes this after dropping in one block. The other tube is narrower, so the crow can raise the water level as he drops in the blocks. After two blocks, the food is high enough to eat.
Here is a short video of a crow dropping clay blocks into tubes of water. The crow is trying to reach pieces of food floating on the water. He has to drop blocks into the tubes to make the water levels rise, so he can reach the food. One tube is too wide; the blocks can’t raise the water much. The crow realizes this after dropping in one block. The other tube is narrower, so the crow can raise the water level as he drops in the blocks. After two blocks, the food is high enough to eat.
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No one teaches the crow how to do this. He figures it out by himself. What do you think of this crow? Video by Dr. Corina Logan, University of California at Santa Barbara. Used with permission. |
If you like science experiments, and you want to read a professional scientific study (with professional science language) about crows using tools, here's a link to the study.
Here is a link to four more videos of animals using tools. These videos show
The videos are in a National Public Radio article called “Myth Busting: The Truth About Animals and Tools.” The article describes other tool-using animals too, including polar bears, dolphins, and orangutans.
- another crow using a wire as a hook
- a monkey using a rock to crack open a nut
- an elephant using a tire as a stool
- a sea otter using a rock to open a clam (like in “The Rock in Your Armpit”)
The videos are in a National Public Radio article called “Myth Busting: The Truth About Animals and Tools.” The article describes other tool-using animals too, including polar bears, dolphins, and orangutans.
This guy is a bonobo – a type of chimpanzee – using a stick to catch termites for breakfast.
In these photos, a gorilla grabs a skinny tree trunk, stabs the trunk into the ground, and then uses the trunk to balance herself while she scoops yummy plants from the water.
What is your opinion? Are these animals smart? If so, what does that mean? Do they learn from experience? Solve problems? Work creatively? Can you think of other ways that animals show intelligence?
"The Crow and the Pitcher - Project Gutenberg etext 19994". Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Crow_and_the_Pitcher_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19994.jpg#mediaviewer/File:The_Crow_and_the_Pitcher_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19994.jpg
“The Crow and the Pitcher” from Goldsmith, Oliver. Treasury of Aesop's Fables. New York: Avenel, 1973. 100-101.
"A Bonobo at the San Diego Zoo "fishing" for termites". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Bonobo_at_the_San_Diego_Zoo_%22fishing%22_for_termites.jpg#mediaviewer/File:A_Bonobo_at_the_San_Diego_Zoo_%22fishing%22_for_termites.jpg
Breuer T, Ndoundou-Hockemba M, Fishlock V (2005) First Observation of Tool Use in Wild Gorillas. PLoS Biol 3(11): e380. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030380
Flossing macaque photo from BBC1's documentary "Monkey Planet" © 2014