on animal cognition. cockatoos use multiple tools (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 11, 2023, 18:50 (650 days ago) @ David Turell

Cockatoos pick and choose:

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00057-X?dgcid=raven_jbs_aip...

"The use of tool sets constitutes one of the most elaborate examples of animal technology, and reports of it in nature are limited to chimpanzees and Goffin’s cockatoos. Although tool set use in Goffin’s was only recently discovered, we know that chimpanzees flexibly transport tool sets, depending on their need. Flexible tool set transport can be considered full evidence for identification of a genuine tool set, as the selection of the second tool is not just a response to the outcomes of the use of the first tool but implies recognizing the need for both tools before using any of them (thus, categorizing both tools together as a tool set). In three controlled experiments, we tested captive Goffin’s in tasks inspired by the termite fishing of Goualougo Triangle’s chimpanzees. Thereby, we show that some Goffin’s can innovate the use and flexibly use and transport a new tool set for immediate future use; therefore, their sequential tool use is more than the sum of its parts.

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"The most sophisticated types of animal tool innovations recorded to date are those that involve more than one tool to achieve a single goal (associative tool use).1 Within associative tool use, complexity arises for a variety of reasons, such as different tools having complementary functions, each tool requiring different movement patterns, a higher total number of spatial relationships to consider, or even a need for sophisticated action planning. A particularly remarkable form of associative tool use is the use of two or more different kinds of tools of different functions on the same goal, traditionally referred to as a tool set.1 Only two non-human species have been described to use tool sets in the wild beyond the anecdotal,5 chimpanzees and, as we only very recently learned, Goffin’s cockatoos.

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"In the aforementioned tool set, Goffin’s were holding the fruit stone (goal) in their claw while crafting and using each tool, and only a single tool could be held at a time.6 This raises the historical doubts stated above regarding the planification of the use and categorization of both tools as a tool set: we do not know whether Goffin’s have the capacity to identify a tool set or if they build and use specific tools for individually perceived sub-steps of the problem. (my bold)

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"Throughout this series of experiments, we revealed the ability of Goffin’s to innovate the use of a tool set, as well as to use and transport it in a flexible way, thus suggesting the ability to categorize both tools as a tool set.

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"After solving their first session, most birds did not fail a single trial again throughout the whole experiment (only one bird did, Dolittle).
Although with differences between individuals, all solvers started showing switching behaviors between the two tools, grabbing and releasing and alternating them multiple times before the first insertion.

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"In our first and second experiments, we provide the first controlled evidence that the majority of Goffin’s spontaneously innovated tool set use under controlled experimental conditions, without social facilitation, and learned to apply it flexibly according to need. Furthermore, our third experiment suggests that the tool set is more than just the use of tools in sequence (as historically suggested for chimpanzees before the flexibility of their tool set transport was observed; see introduction): four Goffins were observed to transport two tools simultaneously, and two Goffin’s were able to not only transport their tool set together but even showed some flexibility depending on the task requirements. This suggests that, like in chimpanzees,15 two tools may be categorized as a tool set.

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"Over the 15 sessions of experiment 1, the birds showed learning, gradually improving on the choice of the correct tool order to solve the tool set box (Figure 3). In the process, we observed a lot of switching behavior between the two tools (Figures 4 and S1). It is likely that picking the short tool initially required some level of impulse control as only the long tool had a direct reward association.

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"Based on the results presented here, we suggest that tool set use by Goffin’s cockatoos results from individual innovation but seems to be within the capacity of the species (notably, in a more limited capacity, also in wild settings).6 The identification of a tool set in anticipation of future need additionally requires the cognitive capacity to make task-dependent decisions about when to transport more than one tool.

Comment: Knowing what Caledonian crows can do, this is not surprising. Think about ants and bees. Tiny brains can understand a great deal. The bold is a good view of how it works.