New Caledonian crows keep ‘valuable’ hooked tools safer than basic non-hooked tools

• Published in: eLife Vol. 10
• Main Authors: Klump, Barbara C, St Clair, James JH, Rutz, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 21.12.2021; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Birds; Corvus moneduloides; Crows; Crows (Birds); Ecology; Experiments; extractive foraging; Female; Flowers & plants; Foraging behavior; Leaf litter; Male; optimal foraging; Population studies; Raw materials; tool manufacture; tool use; Tool Use Behavior; utility; Canada; New Caledonia; ecology; extractive foraging; tool use; tool manufacture; utility; optimal foraging; Corvus moneduloides

The temporary storage and re-use of tools can significantly enhance foraging efficiency. New Caledonian crows in one of our study populations use two types of stick tools – hooked and non-hooked – which differ in raw material, manufacture costs, and foraging performance. Using a large sample of wild...