PS261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Termite, Egyptian Vulture, Corvidae
Document Summary
Tool-use: we used to think that the main reason that differentiates us from animals was that we use tools for things. Egyptian vulture example: how did this evolve, other, related species, throw the eggs on stones to break them, head motion for throwing stone is similar to that for breaking the egg with the beak. They won"t try and crack it open if it doesn"t look like an egg. ) Is it learned: vultures need to learn that eggs are rewarding before they crack them, vultures reared without adults eventually learn the behavior, part of it is built into them, an innate. Use a hammer to put a nail in the wall. You know that hitting the nail is how you get the nail into the wall. Understanding how it works: what species use or make tools, most of our data is from chimps and corvids (crow family, chimps do a lot of tool use.
