Cockatoo Manufactures, Uses Tools

grrlscientist writes with news of a cockatoo named Figaro, who was observed to construct and use his own tools to retrieve objects that were outside of his cage. Quoting: "One day, a student caregiver noticed Figaro pushing a stone pebble through the aviary wire mesh, where it fell on a wood structural beam. Unable to retrieve the stone with his foot, Figaro then fetched a piece of bamboo and again attempted to retrieve the stone using the bamboo stick. ... During the next three days, the researchers ran trials of the original scenario, which was repeated ten times but substituting a cashew nut for the pebble. All trials were captured on video and the process of tool manufacture and use was documented photographically. ... 'Figaro made a new tool for every nut we placed there and each time the bird was successful in obtaining it,' reports cognitive biologist Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna, who led the study (PDF). During these trials, Figaro used 10 tools, nine of which he manufactured and one of which was ready-made."

Comments

Tools reclassified again?

[Mogusha]

I remember reading an article about how dragonflies were using stones to tap down their nests making it harder for predators to find. The result was a reclassification on what constituted a tool removing the dragonflies from being classified as tool users.
Many animals use tools. So, I don't really see how this is news worthy other than that the bird learned to build them on its own without help from other birds.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[slashmydots]

Uh oh, the cockatoo just used bamboo to log into slashdot and read that comment and it appears he's devising a spear-like weapon and a lock pick for the cage door. Watch your ass! You pissed him off, lol.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[dotHectate]

There's been a lot of back and forth revision of the definition over the years. I remember it was originally something like "Any object used outside of its natural scope to achieve a goal." Then people realized this meant otters used stones as tools to open clams so it became "Any object that has been modified to increase efficiency for a purpose outside of its natural scope." Then we had video of apes stripping leaves from branches to stick them in anthills... and the revision continues on ad infinitum because heaven forbid that humans have to share the title of "Tool-maker/user" with lesser beings.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I remember reading an article about how dragonflies were using stones to tap down their nests making it harder for predators to find. The result was a reclassification on what constituted a tool removing the dragonflies from being classified as tool users.

Many animals use tools. So, I don't really see how this is news worthy other than that the bird learned to build them on its own without help from other birds.

I think that that is the noteworthy bit:

In a sufficiently broad sense, every lifeform on earth has been a 'tool user' since the first proto-membrane structure in some billion-year-old primordial ooze first managed to modify the concentration gradients of some useful molecule(tools don't have to be big, do they?) across its membrane. What we are looking for, when classifying 'tool use' is cognitive development of novel uses for environmental objects, because that demonstrates something about mental capacity, rather than execution of uses for environmental objects(however sophisticated and interesting as a different object of study).

Something like a leafcutter ant, say, has an evolved relationship with fungi rather more sophisticated than most human brewers; but we don't see experimentation, learning, cultural transmission, novel improvisation, etc. This bird, on the other hand, apparently came up with some(crude) tools that birds of its kind don't normally use, purely on its own, to deal with local problems.

The extended relationship between organisms and their environment(extending, in many cases, far enough that you really have to consider the organism as being an element of a larger structure) is indeed fascinating; but it doesn't really do conceptual clarity much good to combine complex environmental manipulations that don't show evidence of being cognitively acquired from those that do...

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[wwalker]

Not sure if you realize it, but you just described how science works in general. Especially physics, and to some degree, math. We observe the world around us and come up with a theory that describes it. Then someone makes a discovery that invalidates that theory. Then someone else comes up with a new theory (or expands/modifies the previous one) to make it work with the new discovery. Then someone else makes a new discovery. And so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Sometimes it happens a bit backwards -- someone comes up with a new theory and then a new discovery is made later on that "proves" that theory.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[Empiric]

For a substantial subset of the population of a certain worldview, the main dilemma is that they can propose no conceptual differentiator of themselves from animals at all.

This has... implications.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[green1]

Science works by re-evaluating our world view based on the results of the experiment. Only bad science re-evaluates the definitions of the words in the original hypothesis to cause the desired result instead.
Proper science would have the hypothesis that humans are the only ones who make and use tools, upon seeing another animal make and use tools, we would adjust the hypothesis to say "only humans and _____ make and use tools" or some such. Instead we find people re-defining "tools" so that their original hypothesis remains correct despite evidence to the contrary. This isn't science.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[Black Parrot]

There's been a lot of back and forth revision of the definition over the years. I remember it was originally something like "Any object used outside of its natural scope to achieve a goal." Then people realized this meant otters used stones as tools to open clams so it became "Any object that has been modified to increase efficiency for a purpose outside of its natural scope." Then we had video of apes stripping leaves from branches to stick them in anthills... and the revision continues on ad infinitum because heaven forbid that humans have to share the title of "Tool-maker/user" with lesser beings.

FYI, it's well-accepted that apes make tools. And not just the well known anthill thingy; 7 or a dozen different things, IIRC.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[theshowmecanuck]

So do elephants. There is a well documented incident where a female elephant was observed using an epileptic Maasai midget as a vibrator. This is the real reason for their animosity towards elephants. Not competition for land which is the common excuse cited in animal documentary films. This is usually because of a puritan streak in America that causes Americans to shy away from elephant sexuality. I saw this on animal planet. Honest.

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[Genda]

Indeed... we are animals like all the rest no different than the others save we live in a sea of language and all that entails. Once we expand the ability of these other beings to communicate in a rich language space the differences get shockingly small. Koko loves kitty, want good banana. Koko is beautiful gorilla. Not human, but so close its scary, particularly when uneducated poachers are slaughtering gorillas for trinkets, their hands and feet and sometimes bush meat. In this sitatoin, who is the wild beast and who is the intelligent species indeed?

Re:Tools reclassified again?

[Genda]

Alex the famous African Grey Parrot would help tutor other Grey Parrots. A chimp can be shown a model of an adjoining room, with a locker containing a nice piece of fruit. When the door opens, it goes straight to the fruit, it groks symbolic reference. Koko the signing gorilla was capable of artwork, word play, and conversations with remarkable sensitivity and insight, all of these traits we take for granted as strictly human, and they are not. These are not anecdotal musings. These are cold hard facts gleaned from test animals in research facilities. The harder we look, the more we see, the more we see how close they are to us and that they deserve to be treated with the respect that sentience or the spark of sentience deserves. Human beings haven't even stopped dehumanizing one another, it is perhaps time that as we protect the human dignity of our own species, that we include all highly intelligent species as well as an expression of that dignity.

Re:Manufacturing industry

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

grrlscientist writes with news of a cockatoo named Figaro, who was observed to construct and use his own tools

That's just epic. When the economy doesn't support the First World manufacturing industry, you can rely on parrots take over. I think I'll sleep much better now. :-)

Just you wait: Next week, I hear that a team will be publishing their work on a vulture who established a shell company, oversaw a hostile buyout of Figaro's Tools, and then outsourced production to China while exploiting the artisinal brand appeal of Figaro's lovingly handcrafted tradition... That's the bird you want to watch out for...

Not the first bird documented ...

[DavidClarkeHR]

The New Caledonian raven has already been documented as creating and using tools.

Of course, this is how science is done - repetition!

Re:Not the first bird documented ...

[SuricouRaven]

There's long been a bit of an argument over which is smarter: The Parrots, or the Corvids. Naturally, I support the latter team.

Re:Not the first bird documented ...

[Black Parrot]

There's long been a bit of an argument over which is smarter: The Parrots, or the Corvids. Naturally, I support the latter team.

And I the former.

But I have to admit, one of my favorite animal movies is where the guy leaves a baited hook dangling through a hole in the ice, and while he's away a corvid lands on the cross-beam that the line is tied too and pulls the fish up, an inch or two at a time, by pulling up some line and then standing on it while reaching for another pull.

Re:Is Cockatoo a new tech startup?

[game kid]

Nah, the web startup would've used "koccaTwo" and "toolr" respectively.

Re:Stupid bird

[The Grim Reefer]

A smart bird would have made a tool that could do the job ten times, and not a new tool each time.

A smart bird would have picked the lock on the cage and shived the person with the can of cashews when their back was turned.

Crows do this too

[YurB]

A good TED talk in itself, but around 2:55 the speaker shows a video of a crow creating a tool: Joshua Klein: The intelligence of crows. I like his conclusion: instead of killing crows (and other non-human species which have adapted to live in cities), we should think how we can use their adaptive skills to train them to do some work for us, i.e. to try to cooperate with them.

Re:Stupid bird

[robbiedo]

Cockatoos are some of the most adorable, sweet, cuddly...flip the switch...mean, aggressive, dangerous animals I have ever worked with.

Re:Stupid bird

[Carewolf]

Cockatoos are some of the most adorable, sweet, cuddly...flip the switch...mean, aggressive, dangerous animals I have ever worked with.

You never worked with cats?