Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.

The ability to innovatively use or even manufacture different tools depending on a current situation can be silhouetted against examples of stereotyped, inborn tool use/manufacture and is thus often associated to advanced cognitive processing. In this study we confronted non-specialized, yet innovat...

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Main Authors: A M I Auersperg, C Köck, M O'Hara, L Huber
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6221259?pdf=render
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author A M I Auersperg
C Köck
M O'Hara
L Huber
author_facet A M I Auersperg
C Köck
M O'Hara
L Huber
author_sort A M I Auersperg
collection DOAJ
description The ability to innovatively use or even manufacture different tools depending on a current situation can be silhouetted against examples of stereotyped, inborn tool use/manufacture and is thus often associated to advanced cognitive processing. In this study we confronted non-specialized, yet innovative tool making birds, Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana), with an apparatus featuring an out-of-reach food reward that could be placed at different distances from a tool opening. Alternatively, the food stayed at a constant distance but the tool opening in the front of the apparatus had different diameters. We used a novel material for tool manufacture (cardboard) that demanded an incrementally increased manufacturing effort from the actor, depending on the length of the tool required. We found that our subjects used two strategies to succeed in this tasks: either by making carboard-stripe tools using the full length of the material sheets originally offered or by adjusting the lengths of their tools to different goal distances. Subjects also discarded cardboard stripes that were too short to reach the goal prior to use and discarded longer pieces when the goal was further away than when it was close. Nevertheless, likely due to morphological constraints, the birds failed to adjust the widths of their tools depending on the diameter of the tool opening.
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spelling doaj.art-a87bef0bda74429ab09a71532d7af33f2022-12-22T03:04:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-011311e020542910.1371/journal.pone.0205429Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.A M I AuerspergC KöckM O'HaraL HuberThe ability to innovatively use or even manufacture different tools depending on a current situation can be silhouetted against examples of stereotyped, inborn tool use/manufacture and is thus often associated to advanced cognitive processing. In this study we confronted non-specialized, yet innovative tool making birds, Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana), with an apparatus featuring an out-of-reach food reward that could be placed at different distances from a tool opening. Alternatively, the food stayed at a constant distance but the tool opening in the front of the apparatus had different diameters. We used a novel material for tool manufacture (cardboard) that demanded an incrementally increased manufacturing effort from the actor, depending on the length of the tool required. We found that our subjects used two strategies to succeed in this tasks: either by making carboard-stripe tools using the full length of the material sheets originally offered or by adjusting the lengths of their tools to different goal distances. Subjects also discarded cardboard stripes that were too short to reach the goal prior to use and discarded longer pieces when the goal was further away than when it was close. Nevertheless, likely due to morphological constraints, the birds failed to adjust the widths of their tools depending on the diameter of the tool opening.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6221259?pdf=render
spellingShingle A M I Auersperg
C Köck
M O'Hara
L Huber
Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
PLoS ONE
title Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
title_full Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
title_fullStr Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
title_full_unstemmed Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
title_short Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function.
title_sort tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6221259?pdf=render
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