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Video of Wild Crow Tool Use Caught With Tail Cams

Posted by Zonk on from the and-bernd-heinrich-is-well-pleased dept.

willatnewscientist writes "Scientists from the University of Oxford have recorded New Caledonian crows using tools in the wild for first time. The footage was captured by attaching tiny cameras to their tail feathers. The wireless cameras weigh just 14 grammes and can be worn by the crows without disturbing their natural behavior. The trick has provided the first direct evidence of the birds' using tools in the wild and may represent an important development in animal behavior studies. 'The camera also contains a simple radio transmitter that reveals the crows' location. This lets the researchers track them at a distance of few hundred metres, so that they can catch the camera's video signal with a portable receiving dish. Up to 70 minutes of footage can be broadcast by the camera's chip, and the camera is shed once the bird moults its tail feathers.'"

4 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fascinating by Animats · · Score: 1, Insightful

    70 minutes is probably the battery life, not the recording time. It's a transmitter, not a recorder.

  2. Meta-Observation of Humans by Nymz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    FTA - "We attach the camera to the tail feathers so the lens pokes out under the belly," says Rutz.
    We attach cameras to the tails of birds, to satellites traveling past Jupiter right now, to carseats for police officers on the job, to every convenience store entrance/exit/aisle/cash register, to street corners filled with cars and pedestrians, to tubes inserted into our own bodies for surgery and examinations. Is there anything we haven't attached a camera to and recorded?
  3. Re:Old News by lgw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Using the environment to solve problems counts as tool use. It doesn't count as tool making, which is a more limited category. Very few species will create a tool to solve a problem, going beyond just using what they find around. Heck, I've known people who aren't that bright.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  4. Re:Yeah, cool, but does it run on... by Jeremi · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Maybe you should talk to a professional about your hate.


    You mean like a hit man? I know Ballmer is annoying, but really -- isn't that taking it a bit far?

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.