Animals & nature · 2005
Can young New Caledonian crows make and use tools without being shown how?
Yes. Hand-raised young New Caledonian crows spontaneously made and used tools without contact with adults of their species or any prior demonstration by humans. This shows that those demonstrations are not required for the behavior to emerge, but it does not rule out a role for learning from others.
Details
Researchers studied young New Caledonian crows raised by humans without contact with adult crows of their species. The birds made and used tools even though humans had not demonstrated the behavior beforehand. The abstract does not report a comparison with birds that had received demonstrations, so it cannot establish how such experience might affect their tool-making.
The broader question is how tool-making develops and spreads among these crows. Tool shapes vary by region, and the authors suggest that this might reflect cultural changes that accumulate over generations. The juvenile birds’ spontaneous behavior does not establish or disprove that explanation. Instead, it shows that accounts of how crows learn tool-making must allow for the behavior to emerge without adult examples or human demonstrations.
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