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James St Clair
Smart crows using tools have once again surprised scientists with outstanding problem-solving skills.
As part of a task to test their tool-making prowess, Caledonian crows spontaneously assembled two sticks that can be combined to form a longer "fishing rod" that reaches a piece of food. .
The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Scientists say that the demonstration is a "window on the functioning of the mind of another animal".
How to test the skills of a bird in tool manufacturing?
Caledonian crows are known to spontaneously use tools in nature. This task, designed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, and at Oxford University, presented birds with a new problem that they needed to create a new resolution tool.
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Alice Auersperg
Scientists designed the puzzle box specifically to test crows' ability to make tools.
It was a "jigsaw box" containing food behind a door that left a narrow gap at the bottom. With the food at the bottom of the box and only short sticks – too short to reach the food – the crows were left to themselves to know what to do.
The sticks were designed to be combined – one was hollow to allow the other to slip in. And without demonstration or help, four crows out of eight inserted one stick into another and used the longer tool to catch and extract the food from the box.
"They have never seen this tool compound, but they can predict the properties," explained one of the leading researchers, Professor Alex Kacelnik.
"So they can predict what they would do if something did not exist yet, then they can do it and they can use it.
"This means that the standard idea that animals try everything at random and improve by reinforcement – that's not enough," she added.
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Pedro Barros da Costa / Rutz Group
Caledonian crows make and use tools in nature
"The discovery is remarkable because the crows did not receive any help or training to make these combinations, they discovered them by themselves," added Auguste von Bayern, the designer of the study.
Why do scientists put these birds to the test?
"Understanding how a mind other than ours can work is a major intellectual challenge," said Professor Kacelnik.
"In itself, it's fascinating."
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And this study, he added, has reinforced the evidence that crows have "very flexible capabilities" that allow them to quickly solve new problems with tools never seen before.
The researchers suspect that crows could do this by considering a simulation of the problem in front of them – playing different actions in their brain until they find the solution.
Dr. Amanda Seed, of the University of St Andrews, called this finding "a truly striking discovery".
"This raises many more interesting questions about the mental simulation capabilities of these birds," she told BBC News, "which we can also ask monkeys and young children [to understand more about its evolution]. "
Problem-solving demonstrations could also help the development of artificial intelligence in robots – to discover ways to build machines that can also achieve "self-creative solutions" to new problems.
"We are [working with engineers] to give robots the same problems we give to birds, "said Professor Kacelnik.
"Imagine the possibility of building an artificial intelligence capable of wanting what you are interested in doing and getting it in a way that you have not thought of before."
He cited the example of an earthquake and a robot designed to "want" to save people from a collapsed building, with the ability to find ways to achieve it .
"The animals give us the mountain we have to climb," said Professor Kacelnik. "We know that a task can be accomplished because the animals have shown us."
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