4 ms·
Question for any archaeologists or zoologists. Do seagulls using the coastal rocks to break open oysters and clams by dropping them from the air qualify as usin
by cudgy 4y ago
Question for any archaeologists or zoologists. Do seagulls using the coastal rocks to break open oysters and clams by dropping them from the air qualify as using tools? If not, what is this type of activity considered?
- _0ffh 4y agoIIRC that should count as using tools, but that's still a step away from making tools.
- OJFord 4y agoAre nests tools for child-rearing? Or is that making furniture without the use of tools?
- mc32 4y agoBeavers make dams and build lodges. Bees build hives and have division of labor… at dome point we have to declare a cutoff.
- OJFord 4y agoSure, I just think it's interesting, and that surely you do need to think about why you're interested in whether an animal 'makes' or uses 'tools' to know where that cut-off should be, otherwise it's a bit arbitrary and self-fulfilling ('only humans and some apes use tools' ... 'where tool is defined as a manufactured object held in the hand'!) isn't it?
- macinjosh 4y agoIIRC, Bees build their hives with their own secretions. I see this as categorically different than animals that make nests out of various items laying around. In the case of a beaver I think it is more advanced than a birds nest because they actually harvest specific trees instead of using what’s on the ground already.
- OJFord 4y agoThat's a good question (I think, I'm not one of those either) - it's about as close as they could possibly come with the body parts available, so if we're interested in the intelligence and ability to reason about using things to do other things ('tools') then surely it is. Surely it's possible for an animal even to know its limitations, and desire to do something outside of them. Like I might think 'if only I could fly up and fix my gutter', say.