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Researchers are doing all kinds of cognitive studies on how birds (and other animals) use tools. Has anyone looked into the potential impacts (good and bad) for

Researchers are doing all kinds of cognitive studies on how birds (and other animals) use tools. Has anyone looked into the potential impacts (good and bad) for wide scale introduction of proven tools for use by other animals? Off the top of my head, if a tool is made of plastic for example, we’d be littering our environments with questionable trash. But conceptually, what’s the downside to leave a huge pile of defensive materials like bird spikes in the forest to help promote nest health? Stopping short of given them weapons of course. (Shout out to the other comment about training animals to dismantle barbed wire.)

gtirloni 2y ago
Unless there's an imbalance caused by human activity, I'd say we are better off leaving the birds and their ecosystems alone.
- __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
  I agree, but I would be curious about cases where nature could reclaim habitat faster if we give it some tools for the job. I can't really think of what those tools might be off hand though--apart from some kind of weapon/disease that better keeps humans away at marginal detriment to the user/host.
  - mulmen 2y ago
    Don’t we already do this with artificial reefs?
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    >I agree, but I would be curious about cases where nature could reclaim habitat faster if we give it some tools for the job. I can't really think of what those tools might be off hand though--apart from some kind of weapon/disease that better keeps humans away at marginal detriment to the user/host. That's an interesting line of thought. The only thing that comes to mind is something like giving them fancy hats or paintjobs to encourage more reproductive success in declining species.
    - __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
      There's a bit of interesting work that's done re: introducing cloned organisms from decades past (from a time when biodiversity wasn't as strained), e.g. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-11/advancements-black-footed-ferret-conservation-continue-new-offspring-cloned https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-11/advancements-black... One could also imagine releasing a virus which reprogrammed wildlife genomes for resistance against some toxin that we had previously introduced into the environment (ideally we would also stop introducing the toxin...). But none of these things come down to "heres a tool for you to use". Golly I wish I could come up with some technology that would help the woodpeckers better hunt invasive pine beetles--the forests around me are looking pretty rough--but that's a bit too fantastical to hope for.
- aradox66 2y ago
  The "leaving ecosystems alone" ship sailed almost everywhere on Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Humans have always been a part of, and had impacts upon, the ecosystems we've lived in. Certainly moreso in recent centuries. Not to say that further interventions will be helpful in "reestablishing balance". Even the concept of "balance" or homeostasis has long been recognized to not really exist in any ecosystem.
- crooked-v 2y ago
  For a lot of animals like crows, their ecosystems are "human activity" now.
  - fullstop 2y ago
    Last summer I made an attempt at befriending a crow. It actually went pretty well, but the treasures that he brought me blew my mind: * French fries * Cooked pasta, maybe baked ziti? * BBQ ribs, but just the bone with some sauce on it * Chicken nuggets * One dead bird, conveniently opened for me * Several whole dead baby chicks * One baby chick's head I stopped feeding it after it kept leaving us, and my neighbor, the dead birds, and it was fowling (ha) up the water in her bird bath. It loved blueberries, cat food, pepitas, and walnuts. It did not like apples and would toss them aside. I would shake my car keys when I put the food out, and it would show up a few minutes later, but I never figured out if it just saw me or heard the keys. Here's some video clips of my buddy: https://i.imgur.com/4ZQb7L3.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/4ZQb7L3.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/B4DBLxg.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/B4DBLxg.mp4 edit: make the links clickable
mmooss 2y ago
> Has anyone looked into the potential impacts (good and bad) for wide scale introduction of proven tools for use by other animals? That is interesting. What if we designed tools for use by corvids? > conceptually, what’s the downside to leave a huge pile of defensive materials like bird spikes in the forest to help promote nest health? We'd be supporting one species, the prey, over the other, the predator. Why? Do we mean to apply vegan principles to animals? What happens to the predators? How do animal rights apply? Conceptually, it's really a difficult question.
- econ 2y ago
  If we kill enough of a kind it is okay to help them. Where I live we have enough slugs to feed thousands of hedgehogs but they don't understand traffic. Therefore it is fine to build luxury hotels for them.
al_borland 2y ago
They could become dependent on those tools and then if humans stop, the animals will die the tool supply drops.

gtirloni 2y ago

Unless there's an imbalance caused by human activity, I'd say we are better off leaving the birds and their ecosystems alone.

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago
I agree, but I would be curious about cases where nature could reclaim habitat faster if we give it some tools for the job. I can't really think of what those tools might be off hand though--apart from some kind of weapon/disease that better keeps humans away at marginal detriment to the user/host.
- mulmen 2y ago
  Don’t we already do this with artificial reefs?
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >I agree, but I would be curious about cases where nature could reclaim habitat faster if we give it some tools for the job. I can't really think of what those tools might be off hand though--apart from some kind of weapon/disease that better keeps humans away at marginal detriment to the user/host. That's an interesting line of thought. The only thing that comes to mind is something like giving them fancy hats or paintjobs to encourage more reproductive success in declining species.
  - __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
    There's a bit of interesting work that's done re: introducing cloned organisms from decades past (from a time when biodiversity wasn't as strained), e.g. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-11/advancements-black-footed-ferret-conservation-continue-new-offspring-cloned https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-11/advancements-black... One could also imagine releasing a virus which reprogrammed wildlife genomes for resistance against some toxin that we had previously introduced into the environment (ideally we would also stop introducing the toxin...). But none of these things come down to "heres a tool for you to use". Golly I wish I could come up with some technology that would help the woodpeckers better hunt invasive pine beetles--the forests around me are looking pretty rough--but that's a bit too fantastical to hope for.
aradox66 2y ago
The "leaving ecosystems alone" ship sailed almost everywhere on Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Humans have always been a part of, and had impacts upon, the ecosystems we've lived in. Certainly moreso in recent centuries. Not to say that further interventions will be helpful in "reestablishing balance". Even the concept of "balance" or homeostasis has long been recognized to not really exist in any ecosystem.
crooked-v 2y ago
For a lot of animals like crows, their ecosystems are "human activity" now.
- fullstop 2y ago
  Last summer I made an attempt at befriending a crow. It actually went pretty well, but the treasures that he brought me blew my mind: * French fries * Cooked pasta, maybe baked ziti? * BBQ ribs, but just the bone with some sauce on it * Chicken nuggets * One dead bird, conveniently opened for me * Several whole dead baby chicks * One baby chick's head I stopped feeding it after it kept leaving us, and my neighbor, the dead birds, and it was fowling (ha) up the water in her bird bath. It loved blueberries, cat food, pepitas, and walnuts. It did not like apples and would toss them aside. I would shake my car keys when I put the food out, and it would show up a few minutes later, but I never figured out if it just saw me or heard the keys. Here's some video clips of my buddy: https://i.imgur.com/4ZQb7L3.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/4ZQb7L3.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/B4DBLxg.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/B4DBLxg.mp4 edit: make the links clickable

mmooss 2y ago

> Has anyone looked into the potential impacts (good and bad) for wide scale introduction of proven tools for use by other animals? That is interesting. What if we designed tools for use by corvids? > conceptually, what’s the downside to leave a huge pile of defensive materials like bird spikes in the forest to help promote nest health? We'd be supporting one species, the prey, over the other, the predator. Why? Do we mean to apply vegan principles to animals? What happens to the predators? How do animal rights apply? Conceptually, it's really a difficult question.

econ 2y ago
If we kill enough of a kind it is okay to help them. Where I live we have enough slugs to feed thousands of hedgehogs but they don't understand traffic. Therefore it is fine to build luxury hotels for them.

al_borland 2y ago

They could become dependent on those tools and then if humans stop, the animals will die the tool supply drops.