You've probably heard of the intelligence of crows. They solve puzzles, and make and use tools. There is an Aesop's fable about a thirsty crow who drops stones into a pitcher to raise the water level. Some Scientists decided to test Aesop's story. They modified the story into an experiment where crows would have to drop stones in a tube of water to get a floating piece of food. Wild crows were taught to drop pebbles into empty tubes with food for a reward. They were then tested with the water-level scenario. The crows tested well. When variables were changed (the crows were presented with two tubes, one with sand, one with water) they correctly dropped pebbles into the water one. When presented with hollow versus heavy rocks they chose heavy ones. They did not figure out that a narrow tube would gain water level faster than a wider one, and they could not solve the puzzle when part of the tube was hidden. The results show that the crows use the new skill when they find it applicable and when they can see a reward at the end. It should be noted that the experiment was tested on a few other species of bird, and human children. Some of the other birds as well as children over five years of age were able to complete the task.
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Byron Otis- I love learning about the intelligence of different animals. It's comforting to know that something has the capability to evolve to become as intelligent as us, if we ever finally destroy ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how other species respond to adversity, and how they respond in a way that is often similar to our thought processes.
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