Slashdot Mirror
Diver Snaps First Photo of Fish Using Tools
sciencehabit writes with this excerpt from Science: "While exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef, professional diver Scott Gardner heard an odd cracking sound and swam over to investigate. What he found was a footlong blackspot tuskfish holding a clam in its mouth and whacking it against a rock. Soon the shell gave way, and the fish gobbled up the bivalve, spat out the shell fragments, and swam off. Fortunately, Gardner had a camera handy and snapped what seem to be the first photographs of a wild fish using a tool." (Not everyone agrees that this constitutes tool use, says the article, in part because the "tool" isn't something that the fish can actually manipulate.)
I for one welcome our new fish overlords.
Isn't every camera technically a tool? Diver have used cameras all the time!
Oohhh, the fish using a tool. :P
That whole scene with the monkeys is gonna need some MAJOR rewriting...
Fish should begin receiving catalogs from Harbor Freight in the mail any day now.
Have gnu, will travel.
Actually, the fish was sculpting the rock with a clam, but then the clam broke and the fish got distracted. Not merely an instance of tool use, this is clearly an attempt at creating an enduring cultural artifact.