Topic: Tool Use in Animals

[Clive]

Benjamin Beck(1980) offers a fascinating story about the ingenuity of a crow which lived in his laboratory.  The crow was fed dried mash, which needs to be moistened before the crow can eat it.  However, the keepers occasionally forgot to do so.  The crow found a solution to his keepers' absent-mindedness; he used a cup to get water to moisten the mash himself!  The cup had been given to the crow as a toy but he used it to collect water from a trough on the other side of the room.

This and other examples:

http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/tools.htm

[Sandra]

I cant see the link for the sheep ones Clive, so how did you come across that site  

[Clive]

I like to go off the beaten track occasionally Sandra.  

[Lona]

He actually likes birds as well Sandra.  . Even if it's only  an old crow.  

[Sandra]

Chances for me and you yet then Lona, as long as we werent too fussy