Has anyone heard about a recent experiment with crows and tools? I don't have a link. Sorry. My girlfriend told me about it. Apparently they put these crows in situation where they would need to use tools to get to their food. The crows figured it out and used tools like hooks to access food. That was the first revelation. They didn't expect them to figure it out. Next, after having required the hook for a while, they took the tools away to see what they would do. One of the female crows made a hook out of spare parts and used it to get to the food. Problem was, the male crows kept stealing the hook from her. She never resisted. She let them take it and just made another one, and then they'd take it again and she'd make another. Over and over again. I can't say why, but I find that really fascinating. Anybody read about this? Got a link?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science/nature/2178920.stm Great stuff. Seems animals have more smarts than we give them credit for.
Thanks for the link, Mrs. JB. This reminded me of the Turkish archaeological dig at Catal Huyuk, where they discovered what was once believed to be the oldest civilization we know of (they later found it to be the second oldest). It was unusual for two reasons: It was matriarchal and they'd developed relatively complex tools long, long before any other civilization. There's a very, very blatant feminist point in here somewhere.
"I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals....they are so placid and self-contained, I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied....not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth." -- Walt Whitman
