New Caledonian crow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New Caledonian crow |
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Corvus
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moneduloides
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The New Caledonian crow (Corvus moneduloides) is a very clever bird. It lives on the islands of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. People sometimes call it the 'qua-qua' because of its special call.
These crows are famous for using tools. They can even make their own tools, like hooks! Scientists study them to learn more about how intelligence grows, especially when animals use and make tools.
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About the New Caledonian Crow
The New Caledonian crow is a medium-sized bird. It is about 40 centimeters (16 inches) long. This crow looks completely black. Its feathers shine with purple, dark blue, and green colors in good light.
Its beak, feet, and legs are also black. The beak is special because the bottom part points slightly upwards. This shape might help the crow hold tools straight. Its call sounds like a soft "waa-waa" or a rough "qua-qua."
Where Do New Caledonian Crows Live?
These crows live only on the islands of New Caledonia. They prefer to live in thick, natural forests. You can find them on the main island, Grande Terre. They also live on one of the Loyalty Islands, called Maré Island.
What Do New Caledonian Crows Eat?
New Caledonian crows eat many different things. They enjoy insects and other small creatures. Sometimes they catch flying insects right out of the air! They also eat eggs, baby birds, and small mammals.
They like snails too. They drop snails from high up onto hard rocks to break their shells. Nuts and seeds are also part of their diet.
Clever Tool Use for Food
These crows are famous for using tools to find food. They use sticks and leaves to get prey hidden in cracks. They might use a stick with a natural hook. Or, they can make a hook themselves!
The crow pokes the tool into a crack. This makes the hidden insect bite the tool. Then, the crow pulls the tool out with the insect attached. Grubs caught this way are a very important part of their diet.
New Caledonia does not have woodpeckers. So, these crows act like woodpeckers. They fill a similar role to the woodpecker finch in the Galapagos.
How New Caledonian Crows Make Tools
New Caledonian crows are amazing tool makers. They find small twigs and use them to poke into holes. This helps them pull out insects and larvae. They can even break twigs off bushes and trim them to make useful stick tools. Making tools is harder than just using them. This shows how smart these birds are.
They also make leaf tools. They tear strips from the edges of Pandanus leaves. These leaves have natural barbs, like tiny hooks. The crows can use these barbs as hooks if they hold the tool correctly. They also use thorns from vines as part of their tools.
They can even carve wood and ferns into hooks. They trim branches or fern stems into a tick shape. Then they remove material to create a working hook. This is like carving!
How Tool Making Spreads
The New Caledonian crow is special because it shows "cumulative cultural evolution." This means they invent new tools by changing old ones. Then, they teach these new ideas to other crows in their group.
Scientists studied tools made from pandanus leaves. They found different types of tools. The more complex tools seemed to come from simpler ones. This suggests that the ideas for new tools spread from one crow to another.
Surprising Tool Inventions
Crows can even make tools from things they've never seen before. In 2002, scientists saw two crows, Betty and Abel, do something amazing. They were given straight wires and a hooked wire to get food.
When Abel took the hooked wire, Betty bent the straight wire into a hook. She used it to get her favorite food! This was the first time these crows had ever seen wire. Betty made a hook nine out of ten times. This showed she could invent a tool on the spot.
This kind of intentional tool making is very rare in animals. It shows that these crows can think and solve problems in new ways. They also use tools to check out new or possibly dangerous things, like a rubber snake.
Using Tools on Other Tools
Crows can even use one tool to get another tool. This is called "meta-tool use." It shows very complex thinking. New Caledonian crows can do this as well as some primates.
In one study, food was in a box too far away. The crows had a short stick, too short to reach the food. But they could use the short stick to pull a longer stick from another box. Then, they used the long stick to get the food. Six out of seven crows solved this on their first try!
Scientists have also seen these crows make "compound tools." They can fit 2 to 4 short branches together to make one long tool.
Crows and Mirrors
New Caledonian crows can understand information from mirrors. This is a special skill that only a few animals have. They can use a mirror to find objects they can't see directly. However, they don't seem to recognize themselves in the mirror.
