Clever Critters: 8 Best Non-Human Tool Users


	Clever Critters: 8 Best Non-Human Tool Users
Silkweaver
1-29-2009 12:05 AM
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tags:
animals, intelligence, tools
1 Comment |
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1-29-2009 10:04 AM
tanyamm
Animals have a lot more intelligence than we often give them credit for.
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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b62bf731-b778-4805-b7ab-833d22cbd798/29A3F45C-26AF-470C-9F0D-DF52381DB54D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html" href="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html" style="font-size: 11px;">blog.wired.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">Tool use was once thought to distinguish humans from animal — until, that is, so many animals proved able to use them. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">Below is a compilation of some of the most interesting animal tool use yet observed.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">Darwin himself was quite intrigued by animal tool use, suggesting that it allowed them to overcome biological shortcomings.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/blog.wired.com/img/A63C559D-2E4A-4BC8-8959-8B2BE3D9F3A0" alt="Elephant" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">Cute YouTube videos of <A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk" linkindex="60">elephant painters</A> show their amazing dexterity, but even more impressive is <A href="http://www.natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic5/elephant.htm" linkindex="61" set="yes">this peculiar habit</A>: after digging a water hole, elephants will strip bark from a tree, chew it into a ball, then use it to fill the hole. Once the top has been covered with sand, the elephant has an evaporation-resistant canteen.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html"><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C4Tm9QdI_eM&hl=en&fs=1" height="329" width="400" wmode="opaque" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">Egyptian
vultures, who use rocks to break open ostrich eggs. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html"><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hf1BssuJAI0&hl=en&fs=1" height="329" width="400" wmode="opaque" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">the New Caledonian
crow is famed for its cleverness, seen here in a captive bird's <A href="http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/crow/" linkindex="72" set="yes">fashioning of a food-fetching hook</A> from straight wire. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html"><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bKpZUsRJWBg&hl=en&fs=1" height="329" width="400" wmode="opaque" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/blog.wired.com/img/B77F2FAE-FF0E-468C-9F5C-817720D7EBB4" alt="Dolhinsponge" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">the <A href="http://flickr.com/photos/frostnova/679052228/sizes/l/" linkindex="81" set="yes">first known marine mammal to use tools</A></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html">sponges with which they stir ocean-bottom sand</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/29A3F45C-26AF-470C-9F0D-DF52381DB54D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>
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