Clever crow solves world-first puzzle

A cunning crow named "007" has solved one of the most complex tests of the animal mind ever to be constructed.

The problem-solving bird completed the eight-stage puzzle in less than three minutes on camera despite never seeing the course before, in what researchers are calling a world-first.

As part of the challenge, 007 was required to put skills learnt over its three months in captivity to use in order to get an inaccessible treat.

First, the crow pulls a string to reach a short dangling stick.

It then makes its way to a narrow container with a meaty treat inside, but quickly realises the tool is too short.

The bird makes its way towards three nearby boxes, each with a single stone inside.

Using the stick to manoeuvre a stone out of all three, it then drops each inside a separate Perspex container.

The weight of the stones pushes down a compartment allowing the crow access to a longer stick, which it uses on the original container to fish out the tasty morsel.

"That was remarkable … I have never seen anything like that," BBC Inside the Animal Mind presenter Chris Packham said.

The experiment – devised by Dr Alex Taylor, a lecturer in Evolutionary Psychology based in Auckland – featured on the programme, which can be viewed on BBC iPlayer.

007 was later released back into the wild.

Source: Daily Mail
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Nick Pearson