Guess Who Uses Tools!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Caught an interesting snippet on the show "Planet Earth: Blue Planet II" titled "One Ocean" (Season 1, Episode 1 date 1/1/17) where a large parrot fish was taking a large clam in it's mouth and hitting the clam repeatedly against a coral head. The parrot fish was sticking the coral head with the clam in the same spot until the fish managed to break the clam open. The Parrot fish promptly ate the clam. So do fish use tools...indeed they do.
Pat

[Jenene]

That’s really cool Pat. There surely must be others that use their environment as a tool as well. Probably in many different ways.
Maybe some other will chime in and keep adding to this thread. We can all learn something new.

[brewmaster15]

That is very cool Pat.I know seagulls repeatedly drop oysters and clams on rocks to break them open. They have learned to use pavement too. Butcher birds impale insects and amphibians on thorns and have learned to use barb wire. I have watched woodpeckers carry a sunflower seed to a crevasse in the bark of a tree and wedge it so they can eat it as their bills arent suited to crush the seed like other birds.

Otters will lay on their back and place a shellfish on their stomach and use a rock to break it open.

Pretty smart critters out there.
al

[discuspaul]

That is very cool Pat.I know seagulls repeatedly drop oysters and clams on rocks to break them open. They have learned to use pavement too. Butcher birds impale insects and amphibians on thorns and have learned to use barb wire. I have watched woodpeckers carry a sunflower seed to a crevasse in the bark of a tree and wedge it so they can eat it as their bills arent suited to crush the seed like other birds.

Otters will lay on their back and place a shellfish on their stomach and use a rock to break it open.

Pretty smart critters out there.

Oh for sure Al, there's all kinds of evidence of birds & animals being clever and figuring out how to do things themselves to solve problems.

Take the case of Koko, the gorilla raised in captivity who 'talks' - I'm sure some of you know about his 'smarts' !

[Adam S]

That's really incredible for a fish, but did it have to be parrot fish? Fish don't get much uglier than parrot fish... And they sleep in bubbles of snot!

Not quite as advanced as tool use, but at least they're cute fish:


My favorite "animal smarts" videos though are of crows. Incredible what they're able to think. My conure certainly isn't doing this anytime soon.

[brewmaster15]

The Corvidae family (crows, ravens)are really smart. I think some of the birds out there do some pretty neat things.

It blows my mind how they build complex nests without ever having seen it done.Afterall they were hatched after the fact!

How about cow birds? They use other birds as foster parents.Find a nest .... lay an egg in it and the other bird species actually raises their chicks for them. Talk about having it made. The cowbirds get to go off to the vineyards and breweries.enjoying a carefree life while the foster parents unwhittingly raise the cowbird chicks. Oh and if thats not cool enough, the cowbird chicks purportedly
kicks the non cowbird eggs and chicks from the nest. This gives them more food and resources to grow.

[Second Hand Pat]

That’s really cool Pat. There surely must be others that use their environment as a tool as well. Probably in many different ways.
Maybe some other will chime in and keep adding to this thread. We can all learn something new.

Definitely Jenene, the more we learn about animals the more amazing they are.

That is very cool Pat.I know seagulls repeatedly drop oysters and clams on rocks to break them open. They have learned to use pavement too. Butcher birds impale insects and amphibians on thorns and have learned to use barb wire. I have watched woodpeckers carry a sunflower seed to a crevasse in the bark of a tree and wedge it so they can eat it as their bills arent suited to crush the seed like other birds.

Otters will lay on their back and place a shellfish on their stomach and use a rock to break it open.

Pretty smart critters out there.
al

When I watched this Al I was thinking about what John N. always like to say when people talk about how smart their discus are....something like discus only has the brain the size of a pea. Tool usage in a fish is pretty cool stuff.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

That's really incredible for a fish, but did it have to be parrot fish? Fish don't get much uglier than parrot fish... And they sleep in bubbles of snot!

Not quite as advanced as tool use, but at least they're cute fish:


My favorite "animal smarts" videos though are of crows. Incredible what they're able to think. My conure certainly isn't doing this anytime soon.

Hi Adam, it looked like one of the parrot fish native to Florida water which are pretty colorful fish. I have had crows a couple things in my life. They are amazing creatures and very smart. I have a thread in my homesteader with stories from the last crow I had. Here's a link if you are interested http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ght=black+jack.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Definitely Jenene, the more we learn about animals the more amazing they are.



When I watched this Al I was thinking about what John N. always like to say when people talk about how smart their discus are....something like discus only has the brain the size of a pea. Tool usage in a fish is pretty cool stuff.
Pat

Lol..Pat, You know I get a kick out of when someone says a certain animal only has a brain the size of a pea.. Large brain size is not an indicator of intelligence, Just the potential for it. Humans have some pretty large brains and well you know the rest!

[Second Hand Pat]

That's really incredible for a fish, but did it have to be parrot fish? Fish don't get much uglier than parrot fish... And they sleep in bubbles of snot!

Not quite as advanced as tool use, but at least they're cute fish:


My favorite "animal smarts" videos though are of crows. Incredible what they're able to think. My conure certainly isn't doing this anytime soon.

Hi Adam, it looked like one of the parrot fish native to Florida water which are pretty colorful fish. I have had crows a couple things in my life. They are amazing creatures and very smart. I have a thread in my homesteader with stories from the last crow I had. Here's a link if you are interested http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ght=black+jack.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Lol..Pat, You know I get a kick out of when someone says a certain animal only has a brain the size of a pea.. Large brain size is not an indicator of intelligence, Just the potential for it. Humans have some pretty large brains and well you know the rest!

Me too Al, when I was a kid we use to call animals dumb...I do not hear that any more....except from John lol
Pat

[Adam S]

They are very colorful fish, but their beaks looks silly. Petty of me, yes.

Thank you for sharing your Black Jack experience! I especially got a kick out of the stealing food and rock trading stories. 25 years is also quite the run for a cockatiel. I had one growing up when a friend of my grandmother passed away and left it behind. The thing had gotten pretty obese, and its flight feathers grew out for the first time. Its first few attempts were pitiful, but by the end of the day it was making dime turns and flying laps around the family room.

[two utes]

Caught an interesting snippet on the show "Planet Earth: Blue Planet II" titled "One Ocean" (Season 1, Episode 1 date 1/1/17) where a large parrot fish was taking a large clam in it's mouth and hitting the clam repeatedly against a coral head. The parrot fish was sticking the coral head with the clam in the same spot until the fish managed to break the clam open. The Parrot fish promptly ate the clam. So do fish use tools...indeed they do.
Pat

Great topic Pat!
Planet earth would have to be one of my all time favorites. I have series 1 on dvd and looking at getting series 2 at some stage.
I have been amazed by nature since as long as i can remember, and use to watch shows like wild kingdom and off coarse David Ettenborough at every opportunity.

I'm amazed how all animals do what they have to do to survive, whether its using tools to obtain a feed or using ways to camouflage themselves from their predators.

We as humans have honed in to this and use nature to our advantage. I as a fisherman use birds as an indicator to where to find bait, and hopefully a larger predator.

I dont want to get off topic, but i look at a marlins bill as a tool that has evolved for his survival. Not only to give it a streamline shape but to assist in injuring its prey to obtain a feed.

I cant help to include this clip which shows what im talking about, but i think you may have already seen this on Planet Earth.

[danotaylor]

incredible footage...never get tired of watching those stunning striped marlin feeding...spectacular fish that's fo'sho!