Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Optimal Foraging00:48

Optimal Foraging

How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
Types of Selection01:46

Types of Selection

Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
Conservation of Declining Populations02:07

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Record phenological responses to climate change in three sympatric penguin species.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same author

Diagnosing confounded Bateman gradients.

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution·2025
Same author

Do goldfish like to be informed?

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025
Same author

Mechanical problem solving by plush-crested jays: are tools special after all?

Animal cognition·2024
Same author

Object play and problem solving in infancy: Insights into tool use.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2024
Same author

Serial reversal learning in nectar-feeding bats.

Animal cognition·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups
14:14

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups

Published on: May 13, 2022

New Caledonian crows use tools for non-foraging activities.

Joanna H Wimpenny1, Alexander A S Weir, Alex Kacelnik

  • 1Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK. j.wimpenny@sheffield.ac.uk

Animal Cognition
|December 25, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

New Caledonian crows exhibit flexible tool use beyond foraging. This study reveals non-food-related tool use, suggesting advanced cognitive abilities in these birds.

More Related Videos

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
12:00

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species

Published on: November 6, 2013

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups
14:14

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups

Published on: May 13, 2022

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
12:00

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species

Published on: November 6, 2013

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Ethology
  • Animal Cognition
  • Avian Intelligence

Background:

  • Tool use offers insights into information processing mechanisms.
  • Inflexible or food-specific tool use may not indicate complex cognition.
  • Flexible and innovative tool use challenges conventional learning theories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the generalizability of tool use in New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) beyond food-related contexts.
  • To explore if tool-oriented behavior extends to novel, non-foraging situations.

Main Methods:

  • Observation of five pairs of New Caledonian crows interacting with novel, non-food objects.
  • Recording instances where tools were used to initiate contact with unfamiliar items.

Main Results:

  • Eight instances of tool-mediated first contact with novel objects were observed.
  • This tool use appeared exploratory rather than for food acquisition.
  • This represents the first documented case of non-foraging tool use in this species.

Conclusions:

  • New Caledonian crows demonstrate tool use for purposes other than obtaining food.
  • The cognitive mechanisms underlying tool behavior in this species are more generalized than previously understood.
  • Findings suggest a broader capacity for flexible problem-solving in tool use.