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Find out about the crow unique to the islands of New Caledonia which has been seen making highly sophisticated tools.
Creative tool making is considered a hallmark of human intelligence, and one of the crucial factors that allows us to dominate the world today. Although some other animals use tools, these are generally very basic, and even chimpanzees show little modification of primary materials when making tools. However, within the last ten years a species of crow unique to the islands of New Caledonia has been seen making highly sophisticated tools. These birds cut out probes from leaves (seemingly according to a ‘mental template’), and also shape the ends of twigs into hooks. Alex will describe his attempts to discover whether these crows ‘understand’ what they are doing – is it just habit or does it involve intelligence? Insights from the behaviour of these so-called ‘feathered apes’ may shed light on the evolution of our own tool-making skills, as well as revealing whether a bird is capable of a sort of ‘reasoning’ currently thought to be confined to humans and the great apes. This event will be chaired by Baroness Susan Greenfield.
Alex Weir this year’s winner of the Royal Institution/L’Oreal Science Graduate of the Year Award for his research into the cognitive abilities of New Caledonian crows. He is in the final stages of his PhD at the University of Oxford, which was funded as part of the Wellcome Trust four-year Doctoral Programme in Neuroscience. He previously obtained a BA in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Neuroscience, also from the University of Oxford.
The Science Graduate of the Year Award was established in 2000 by the Royal Institution and L’Oréal to give recognition to innovative and ground breaking research by young scientists.
Speaker(s): |
Alex Weir | talks |
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Date and Time: |
4 October 2005 at 7:00 pm |
Duration: | 2 hours |
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Venue: |
The Royal Institution of Great Britain |
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Tickets: |
£8, £5 for Ri Members and concessions |
Available from: |
www.rigb.org or phone 020 7409 2992 |
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