Crow-Cams Tail Tool Building Birds

It's been known for a while that New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are one of the few species capable of making and using tools. One example of this is that they whittle twigs and leaves into bug-grabbing instruments. This species is the only non-primate known to have such skills. Previous research has suggested that crows are even better than chimps at tool-making: one was seen to make a hook out of wire in order to retrieve food.

Although this is fascinating, not much more has been known about it. The problem is that it's very difficult to study crows in the wild and captivity induces different behaviour.

Now a team from Oxford University has found a solution. Special miniature "crowcams" have been built that incorporate mobile phone technology. These were attached to the tail feathers of 18 New Caledonian crows which were released back into the wild.

The results show that the crows' tool usage is even more sophisticated than previously thought. They use a wider range of tools in a wider range of situations than previously observed. Since the crow's brain is small this is probably a very specialised skill rather than a general problem-solving ability.

The Oxford University team believe that the new technique could be useful in other wild bird studies. Which is great for science, however I fear that the TV schedules will soon be full of the avian equivalent of Big Brother: "It's day five in the trees and two of the robins have been getting very friendly, however the sparrowhawk has been evicted for eating one of the other contestants".

Labels: science and technology

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