Like a baby crow has "learned" from "play"?

bySamuel Zeller

Humans will increase their abilities through "play" such as Lego blocks.It is known by using toolsSince crow also likes "play", research based on the hypothesis that "Is it not for learning to play crows" was done.

Object exploration and tool use | Open Science
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/9/170652

Crows and kea parrots found to learn usefulness of objects similar to the way human babies do it
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-crows-kea-parrots-similar-human.html

Scientists investigate why crows are so playful | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/10/scientists-investigate-why-crows-are-so-playful/

A research team led by Mr. Legert, a cognitive scientist at Lund University, investigated whether there is a relationship between crow 's "play" and "ability to solve problems using tools". The fact that crows in New Caledonia use branches and leaves as tools to pull insects out of treesIt has been known for a long timeOn the other hand, crows use tools not for necessity to live, such as getting food, but also for "enjoyment".

For example, in the movie below, you can see that a crow is enjoying skiing on the roof with something like a plastic lid.

Crow skiing down a roof - YouTube


Many creatures use tools for "rewards", but the actions of crows in the above movies are completely irrelevant to survival and the reward obtained by using tools is only "fun". However, since the crow that had been skiing eventually learned that "you can not ski without enough snow under the lid", Professor Lambert said about the play done by the crow "at first glance it looks stupid It is an action, but really is not it a learning act to use the tool better at a later time? "

In order to investigate whether there is a direct relationship between "playing with tools" and "solving problems using tools", the research team will do two experiments. In the experiment, we used tools as play, but in the wild there are 8 birds who do not use toolsMiyama ParrotAnd the behavior of six Caledonian crows captured before the experiment were compared.

In the experiment, each bird was given several kinds of toys including colorful cube with different weight, different colorful rope with hardness. And the birds had trained to do tasks such as using weights and using sticks to play food after playing with toys for a while.

And after having trained the crow touched the toy again, a test was done to do the task using two types of equipment. One of the devices comes with food coming out by placing a heavy block, and the other is to get food by pushing hard rope into the cylinder. In other words, let's understand the characteristics of the toy, train the way the food is taken out, and put the crown in the device "You can get food using toys".


According to researchers, as a result of ten tasks being repeated, six out of 14 birds were able to get food using tools with a probability of more than coincidence. And the birds who did not have time to play with the tools before the task say that it got worse than that.


The important point in the results of this survey is that researchers are more interested in seeing cubes and ropes if you learn that birds are related to whether or not to use the toys is for food or not Contrary to expectations, contrary to the prediction that birds changed their behavior in play and the performance of the task improved after the training was not found.

In this test result, "It is shown that birds can learn the physical characteristics of themselves by playing with things and can make a better choice when actually used as a tool", but at the same time "all Birds in the same way can not use toys as a tool in the same way, individual differences in behavior are great ". And Professor Lambert said, "" Playing with things without aiming for rewards "can be used to characterize itself and to solve problemsAffordanceIt gives birds, but it does not result in the birds brushing their arms and creating new actions. "" Caledonian crows adapted information obtained by touching objects to later tasks However, I did not get information on whether they were investigating the characteristics of the object strategically in order to obtain information on problem solving. "

byNick Karvounis

If you spend a lot of time and have no effect on getting food or making a safe nest, "play" is very expensive. From the point of view of evolution, birds are supposed to be profitable enough for cost, but this research result is that "crows use tools for enjoyment". The ability to take out food from equipment using rope was a secondary result, evolutionarily it was a question that left question. There are various aspects of birds learning from their own actions, ideas are born while playing with tools as other animals do, crows that are quick to understand can get food using tools It may be like becoming like the news mediaArs TechnicaI am spelling.