aesop was right

[captaincarot]

did anyone see the clever Rook on the BBC news this morning.

when faced with a tall tube containing some water and a floating worm,
the rook couldn't reach the worm with it's beak because the depth from the top of the tube to the worm was too far, but when the scientists placed some stones into it's enclosure.

it picked the stones up, placed then in the beaker, untill the water level was high enough for it to reach it's worm.


BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Clever rooks repeat ancient fable

[bob.phillips]

Yes I saw it. Quite interesting but the bird was clearly in captivity, so was it trained to do it or did it just come naturally??

Bob P.

[Jason Green]

Though I didn't see the article, I suspect naturally. Afterall, if it was in captivity then it would come to expect the food to be readily available - and not presented in a way where it would have to work towards it itself.

I wonder what he would have done if the last stone sunk the worm...

[Pete Collins]

It's smarter than me - I'd never have thought of doing that!

Mind you, I don't really like the taste of worms anyway.

[BloomingMarvellous]

Where have you all been! This is very old news I'm afraid, at least 40 years old.

[captaincarot]

for anyone who didn't notice, there's a link to the article at the bottom of my first post which has a video of one of the birds, there is also an accompanying article on caledonian crow tool use