'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park

Re:'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park by st26 on Saturday August 11, 2018 @10:39AM (#17739826)

Clearly an economically rational animal can still be influenced to a certain behavior, if you make the reward attractive enough.

It's not like crows are not willing to work for food. They have been documented breaking open stubborn mollusks by repeatedly flying them high above a road and dropping them until they crack, or throwing them under oncoming traffic to be smashed open.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park by throwawaymath on Saturday August 11, 2018 @10:48AM (#17739858)

Yeah that's true, and I've seen a number of corvid species (including crows) taking my peanuts and dropping them a few stories. They also like to soak almonds in water to soften them for chewing.

The thing is that there are ample other food sources so whatever you provide needs to be truly exceptional insofar as rewards go. And the crows might not know it's a great reward until they solve the puzzle to get it.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just pessimistic.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park by splicer on Saturday August 11, 2018 @02:49PM (#17741002)

I've seen seagulls break mollusks that way too.

[ Parent | on HN ]