Tools

[Jacob]

Which other animals, besides humans, make/use tools?

[football]

Parrots & magpies use / make tools. & octopuss

[Squirrel]

There were a few animals that used tools on that show that was on a few weeks ago ("Britain's Cleverest Animal" or something). A bird, in particular, was shown some food hidden at the bottom of a deep jar, out of its reach. It was given what looked like paperclip, bent into a straight line, to extract the food, but poking the food with the paperclip didn't work (in the wild this is what the bird does to eat the insects out of trees). So the bird picked up the paperclip, hopped over to a tiny hole in the wall, inserted the wire into the wall, and bent it into a hook! Having done this, it was then able to scoop the food out of the jar - amazingly clever for a bird, don't you think? Perhaps someone will know what species it was.

[FredPuli]

The toolmaking bird is a Caledonian crow ( corvus moneduloides ). This species makes tools by taking strips from plants and working them into a shape to use for getting grubs; this even includes making a hook sometimes. What was interesting here was the speed with which the bird recognised the characteristics of an unfamiliar material and how to work it. There is one kind of Darwin's finch that uses a thorn as a tool to extract grubs too. Wild Egyptian vultures break open ostrich eggs by using a stone; most falconry centres nowadays seem to keep one solely to amuse the crowds with this trick.

[Janetex]

Otters use stones for tools, in fact they've even developed a pocket to keep it in.

[Jacob]

Three stars to you all moi friends.

[fraserjim]

If animals didnt use their tools there would be none at all