The article title perhaps mischaracterizes the significance of these findings. The paper finds that Hooded crows—who are not specialized tool users—demonstrate

The article title perhaps mischaracterizes the significance of these findings. The paper finds that Hooded crows—who are not specialized tool users—demonstrate some of the same abilities that have already been observed experimentally in New Caledonian crows—who are specialized tool makers, including: the ability to manufacture tools from novel materials, select or manufacture a tool depending on the specifics of the task, …etc. The authors cite a dozen papers published over the last 20 years that have documented these findings in NC crows, as well as Goffin’s cockatoo (who, like the Hooded crow, are not specialized tool users). The significance of this paper must be that the abilities are more widespread in crows than previously thought, which is stated in the article, but blotted out by the juicier headline. Here’s the actual paper, which as usual, is more substantive than the article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-024-01874-6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-024-01874-6