Dr Jackie Chappell - Clever crows rely on a unique birds'-eye view - Ideas Lab Predictor Podflash

New Caledonian crows, a species native to an island in the South West Pacific Ocean, are well known for their use of tools for extractive foraging. With a remarkable degree of dexterity they build complex tools out of twigs and leaves and insert them into narrow holes in deadwood to extract beetle grubs. It has always been thought that the New Caledonian crow’s ability to craft and manipulate tools for foraging could be put down solely to their superior intelligence. However, new research shows that two other attributes are essential for such complex tool making and tool use: a wide field of binocular vision, and a straight bill. Andy chats to Dr Jackie Chappell, Lecturer in Animal Behaviour in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham, to find out more.

First broadcast: 22/10/2012 Transcript : http://tinyurl.com/moxhdqc