A very nice news item about recent work with two kinds of intelligent birds - New Caledonian crows and keas (a type of parrot). The news of both species' extremely intelligent approach to liberating food from a see-through box will come as no surprise to readers of NOT A CHIMP, but what is especially interesting here is that both species managed all four grades of problem to access food, but in different ways. The keas barged in and only resorted to the clever stuff once strong-beak tactics failed, whereas the crows started out smartly and dexterously but with that cautious look over the shoulder of a species that is long used to being spied upon by con-specifics.
The food was placed on a small pillar, mounted on a 45% slanting base such that any food on the pillar would roll out the front of the box if dislodged. The simplest task required the birds to tug on a string which was attached to the food through a hole in the wall of the box. The second task required the birds to push a small ball down a tube such that it fell and knocked the food off the plinth. The third task involved manipulating a stick through a narrow hole in the side of the box and the fourth task required the birds to understand that they had to lift a flap in the wall of the box by gripping a hook attached to it.
The research was a collaboration between Dr. Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna, and Alex Kacelnik's lab in Oxford.
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