Peanut Butter Gurl: PBG Good News: Curious Crows

Do you watch or read the news? Are you as fed up with all the bad news as I am? It seems like every time I watch a news broadcast it is all doom and gloom and destruction. And, to be honest, I rarely watch the news for this reason. I know this is not great because it means I am not nearly as educated in world politics and world events as I should be. But it is just too hard to hear about all of these terrible news stories everyday and not have it affect my mental well being.

So, I decided to take on the mission of finding one Good News story each week to share with you, my dedicated readers. At first glance this does not seems like it would be that hard to do but, quite frankly, it was way harder than I expected. Do you know how hard it is to find some good news? And once a good news story is found it is usually too sappy or cheesy to be of any value.

But, after some investigative digging last night and this morning I finally found an interesting story.

Source: BBC
Curious crows use tools to explore dangerous objects

Source

You can click the BB link about to get the full story but here is my take on it.

Researchers have discovered that New Caledonian crows use tools to investigate unfamiliar and potentially dangerous objects. The same way that you or I might use a stick rather than our hands to poke a dead animal or an unfamiliar substance, these birds are using "tools" to investigate objects the researchers place in their environment. These particular birds had already been known for using tools like sticks to gather food from hard to reach places. Studies have also revealed that the crows will craft tools into more suitable shapes and use more than one in order to reach food.

The fact that these birds have been seen using tools to investigate non-food related items in interesting indeed. Only a few other species have been reported to use objects and tools in this fashion. Animals are so much more intelligent than most of us give them credit for. But these birds are proving that the animal kingdom is still full of surprises. I wonder if Bella will ever make her own tools? Probably not.