• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Crow Tools

Crow Tools

September 3, 2007
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/070903_sciup_crow.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Can crows think outside the box? I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Humans aren’t the only animals to use tools. In fact, New Caledonian crows manufacture three different kinds of tools to help them get food. In a recent experiment, evolutionary psychologist Russell Gray and his colleagues at the University of Auckland in New Zealand hid a piece of meat in a hole. They provided the birds with a stick that was too short to reach the food, but could be used to retrieve a longer stick from a box. On the very first try, 85 percent of the birds solved the puzzle and accessed the food.

RUSSELL GRAY (University of Auckland):
They used the short stick to get the long stick and then took the long stick to the hole.

HIRSHON:
Instead of using trial and error, Gray says the crows engaged in a higher level of reasoning to obtain the food, a mental feat that rivals even the great apes. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Brain Science, Genetics & Evolution, Wildlife
Previous Post:Podcast
Next Post:Tree Carbon

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos