Clever Bird Fishes Like a Human
Wed, Feb 11, 2009
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Image: porcelain pony
We think we’re smart don’t we? But as hunter-gatherers the vast majority of us have totally lost our instincts. And no, foraging for food in supermarkets definitely doesn’t count. The anglers among us may claim to be more in touch with their innate survival skills, but with all the gear you can get, it’s not hands-on like back when spearfishing was a luxury. But the bird featured here is fully in touch with its natural instincts, and shows an ingenuity that puts most of us to shame. After all, we’re too busy dumbly watching footage of the little fellow!
This bird, reckoned to be a green heron, has become quite an overnight sensation in the blogosphere. Its ability to use bread as floated bait in order to fish like a human has captivated our imaginations. Yet some of the hype that has accompanied the clip has smelled a bit fishy, particularly the claim that the video has stunned scientists around the world. See, it’s accepted that green herons are one of the world’s few known tool-using species. They also drop titbits of food such as insects or small objects like feathers onto the water’s surface to attract fish that they then proceed to pick off. Clever indeed.
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February 13th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
This was a really interesting article to read about. I’ve only really heard of primates being able to use tools to retrieve food. Maybe there are many more species that we have not studied a lot that have the ability to use tools for catching prey. I would love to do research one day on finding out remarkable information such as this.
February 13th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
This was so cool. I’ve only really heard of primates being able to use tools to retrieve food. Maybe there are many more species that we have not studied a lot that have the ability to use tools for catching prey. I would love to do research one day on finding out remarkable information such as this.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Read one in a issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC about a GREENBACLED HERON using bait to catch fish this bird was in FLORIDA