Crow shows she's no bird-brain

CNN ^ | 8/9/02

[Mr. Mojo]

OXFORD, England -- Oxford scientists have discovered that a crow called Betty is no bird-brain.

Betty astonished scientists by deliberately bending a straight wire into a hook and using it to extract food from a container, the journal Science said on Friday.

[ikka]

But Betty's older male lab-mate Abel had a more direct route of securing his meals -- he would snatch the wire or steal the food from Betty. He was not tested to see if he could bend the wire.

Betty is a Republican. Abel is a Democrat. Clear enough?

[Bigg Red]

Pretty cool!

"What is more, she didn't do it the same way each time..."

Wow! She's already shown that she's smarter than Gore.

[Mr. Mojo]

LOL....perfectly.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Wow! She's already shown that she's smarter than Gore.

ROFL!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Flipper returns. Betty can be his tool-making side kick.

[mtngrl@vrwc]

She was able to repeat the skill nine times out of 10, using more than one technique.

I wonder what happened the one time out of ten? Why would she not repeat the skill that tenth time? Maybe she wasn't hungry?

[NewHampshireDuo]

Not even chimpanzees, our closest cousins, have this ability.

Save the crow, eat the chimp.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I don't believe it. Seriously, I really don't believe it.

[pepsi_junkie]

Betty is a Republican. Abel is a Democrat. Clear enough?

ROTFL! Thats too funny, and true too I bet. In their next study, Betty was able to succesfully poke a hole clear through a butterfy ballot without getting confused. More evidence!

[aristeides]

Aren't parrots supposed to be very smart too?

[TomServo]

Already posted here.

[mamelukesabre]

I do. THose crows are smart. I've seen them immitating my dog(vocally) just to p. off the dog to amuse themselves. THen when the dog gets tired of a crow that pretends to bark, the crows steel her dogfood from her bowl just to get her to chase them. My poor dog hates those crows and there's nothing she can do to get them back.

[mamelukesabre]

African greys are

[goldstategop]

LOL! Never bet FR against a crow.

[Joe Hadenuf]

You bet, crows are very intelligent.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

The feat, it is said, makes her the first animal other than a human that has shown a clear understanding of cause and effect, and fashioned a tool for a specific task using new materials not encountered in the wild.

Smart birds is old news.

http://a1259.g.akamai.net/f/1259/5586/1d/images.art.com/images/PRODUCTS/shdws/large/10000000

[Chad Fairbanks]

But what would Betty's wind velocity be, if she was coconut laden?

[D-fendr]

Believe it.

On the long documentary series about birds, a crow is shown fashioning twigs to hook and also poke out grubs from holes in a log. In Japan, crows are filmed carrying nuts to a light pole over a road, dropping them onto the crosswalk, then picking up the meat - during the flashing "Walk" sign of course - after the cars have cracked the nuts open.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Well, I guess I will just have to eat crow.

Seriously, many people wouldn't be able to figure out that trick with the nuts...