Posted on 01/13/2010 8:21:08 AM PST by JoeProBono
Freshwater stingrays use water as a "tool" in problem-solving tests, scientists reveal for the first time.
Researchers gave South American freshwater stingrays tests to evaluate their problem-solving ability.
The stingrays learned to use jets of water as a tool to extract a meal of hidden food from a plastic pipe.
It reveals that the fish, once thought a "simple reflex animal", has cognitive abilities to rival birds, reptiles and mammals, scientists say.
Scientists from Israel, Austria and the US publish their study in the journal Animal Cognition.
Tool use in fish is far from anything seen in birds or mammals
Freshwater stingrays, found in many tropical waters such as the Amazon river, are related to ocean stingrays. Like sharks, they have skeletons made of cartilage, rather the bony skeletons of less closely related teleost fish.
In the past, scientists have assumed that such cartilaginous fish have limited cognitive abilities, in part because they have been difficult to study, says Dr Michael Kuba from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel who undertook the latest study.
His team tested the ability of captive South American stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi) to solve problems, by setting them a series of underwater tasks.
A stingray uses jets of water to remove food stuck among plants Using a plastic pipe with one end sealed and containing hidden food, researchers observed how the fish overcame the challenge of getting the meal from the container.
They also tested the fish to see if it could discriminate between black and white ends of the tube.
The stingrays not only performed the tasks well but also demonstrated a range of problem-solving strategies, including using water as a "tool" to obtain the hidden reward......
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
They will be signed up to vote democrat next, they meet all the requirments!!
I don’t know. Their problem solving skills might put them a step or two above the Dem voter IQ.
So squirting water is now a “tool”? If that’s a “tool” then why is this shocking? The trigger fish or whatever it is has been known to scientists and uses a jet of water to knock insects off of things and into the water.
Batter ‘em up, and deep fry ‘em! Yum!
Called the archer fish and you’re exactly right. Why is this a “tool”?
Are you sayings that the death of Steve Erwin may have been premeditated?
They're smarter than this guy.
Real classy.
It’s warming up nicely, blue skies and sunshine.
Must be my internet connection.
Turn off your “Distinction Without A Difference” filter.
That generally works.
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