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AMAZING Animals That Use TOOLS!! From hunting for food to collecting water…stay tuned to number 1 to find out animals you had no idea used tools!
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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From hunting for food to collecting water…stay tuned to number 1 to find out animals you
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had no idea used tools!
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Number 10: Dolphins.
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In 2012, an Indian Minster said that Dolphins should be treated as non-human people, and
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scientists have long understood how intelligent these creatures really are, so, perhaps it’s
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not surprising that they’ve recently been observed using tools.
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Say…what?
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Well, in Shark Bay, Australia, a scientist was lucky enough to observe how a group of
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bottlenose dolphins have learned to carry marine sponges in their beaks to stir ocean-bottom
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sand to uncover pray.
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This cool technique has made this group more successful at hunting food on the bottom of
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the ocean.
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Not only that, but it also protects their noises.
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Although this is just one group of dolphins, they’re ability to do this is yet another
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testament to their intelligence, though it should be pointed out that it seems to be
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a relatively new invention.
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And what’s to say there’s not other groups of dolphins using other sea-based tools for
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hunting reasons?
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In fact, as highlighted in a previous video, some scientists have stated that this group
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spend more time hunting with tools that any other non-human animal…but as we’ll see
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moment, there is another contender who others think are slightly ahead of dolphins in using
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tools.
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Number 9: Chimpanzees.
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These intelligent creatures made headlines last year when footage emerged showing that
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the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks – chewing the end of
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the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
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These sticks were examined by primate researchers and they concluded they were made specifically
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for drinking.
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Apparently, using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees’ nests for honey was common
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in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
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This particular population of chimpanzees has what the researchers call a “drinking
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culture”, which they class as a custom shared throughout a group of making these special
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water-dipping sticks to help them through the dry season.
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But this isn’t the only group of Chimpanzees to be observed using tools.
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Decades earlier, in 1960 a chimp was observed using a twig to reach one the chimp’s favorite
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foods…termites.
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He did this by picking up a twig and stripping the leaves off it.
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Then he stuck the twig into one of the holes in the termite mound, left it there for a
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moment, and slowly pulled it out.
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So, he was effectively fishing for termites.
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It’s quite clear these intelligent animals have found ways to use tools to overcome difficult
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situations, yet, like other species on this list who are at serious risk of extinction
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due to human action, they’re tool use won’t save them from habitat loss or bulldozers!
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Number 8: Crows.
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Crows have long symbolized death because they are carrion birds, or’birds that feed on dead
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animals.
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However, our view and understanding of the Crow might just change as the result of recent
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observations of a group of captive crows.
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Ivo Jacobs of Lund University in Sweden and his team were fortunate to observe some interesting
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behavior in the crows.
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They saw how one crow slipped a wooden stick into a metal nut and flew off with both objects.
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Later, they observed another crow insert a thick stick into a hole in a large in a large
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wooden ball to move the items of the room.
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As well as these examples, they also observed four other instances of the crows’ clever
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little tricks.
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In fact, the ability to use objects to transport both items at once is something that had never
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been seen in non-human animals.
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Yet this ingenious feat is not that surprising, as we already knew crows could use tool, but
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this particular trick is often seen as a hallmark of complex cognitive abilities suggesting
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they might be a little bit more intelligent that we first though.
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At the end of the day, this is definitely interesting, but a lot more research needs
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to be completed to see whether the birds also use tools this way in the wild.
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Number 7: Wrasse.
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So, we’ve seen that Dolphins can use tool, and that’s not too surprising given how intelligent
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we know they are, but the next example highlights that they aren’t the only marine animal to
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use tool.
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In fact, this example is the first-time tool use has been observed in fish species.
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This orange dotted tuskfish likes to eat clams.
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But how does a fish defeat a clam?
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Well, it uses a neat trick to expose one buried in the sand.
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The fish grabs the clam in its mouth and, using all its power, smashes it against a
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coral.
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The blows are so precise that, after a short time, the shell breaks apart.
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The fish then eats it all up, swallowing the soft flesh and spitting out shattered shell
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fragments.
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It just goes to show, fish might just be a bit more intelligent than we give them credit
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for…well this fish at least!
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Number 6: Orangutans.
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In the wild, orangutans use branches, sticks and leaves the way humans use utensils, screwdrivers
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and power drills.
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Sticks are the main all-purpose tool, wielded by these primates to pry tasty insects out
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of trees or for use with certain fruits.
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Others have been known to use leaves as a sort of glove..like when their picking prickly
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plants…or big leaves as umbrellas in heavy rain.
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Some have even suggested that some orangutans have been observed using sticks to measure
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the depth of water, but there is a lot of debate around whether this is the right interpretation
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for this act.
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Nevertheless, they are clearly intelligent, but for all their intelligence and their ability
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to use tools, these beautiful creatures can’t possibly defend themselves against humans,
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and with recent scientific warnings suggesting that they are at risk of imminent extinction
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by the end of the century, we can only hope that enough is achieved that they might survive
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in the future.
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Number 5: Elephants.
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It is no secret that Elephants are some of the most intelligent animals on the planet.
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And it’s not surprising when you considering the size of their brain, and the fact that
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they pass on information for one generation to the next.
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So it’s not that surprising that they’ve been observed using tools for a variety of reasons.
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You have some who’ve been observed dropping logs on electric-fences to short circuit them,
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or others, like the Asian Elephants, have been observed making fly-swatting branching…even
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modifying the branches so that they are the perfect length.
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Elephants have a lot of this going for them, but their intelligence has helped them overcome
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some difficult situations,
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Number 4: Gorillas.
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Tool use by gorillas is something scientists have been aware about for some time.
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Most observations generally relate to obtaining food, either by cracking nuts with rocks or
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using twigs to eat termites, like we’ve seen with other animals on this list.
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However, recently tool-savy wold gorillas were caught on camera.
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One gorilla was observed using a tool to test the depth of the water before wading in…which
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could suggest a similar action might have been the right interpretation for our earlier
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entry with the orangutans.
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In the same video, another gorilla was caught using a stick to help search for food, and
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even possibly as a bridge over a muddy puddle.
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Although this is not completely surprising, as tool use in primate is well document, it
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is great to catch wild gorillas doing this!
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Number 3: Octopus.
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We’ve already introduced two marine animals that have been known to use tools, and the
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next example is yet another one to add to the list.
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The octopus are notorious for their ability to hide behind rocks or slip through the smallest
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of gaps…seriously!
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But groups of octopi, like the coconut octopus, have also been found to use tools.
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The coconut octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, is the first identified species to gather
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materials for its shelter with apparent foresight.
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While we see this in birds, it is much less known in marine life…especially with octopi.
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This two-inch-long Indonesian cephalopod has been observed retrieving discarded coconut
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half-shells, swimming with them up to 50 feet away, and then carefully arranging the shells
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on the sea floor for later use.
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In one video, an octopus was caught quickly jumping in to its coconut shell.
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Using the discarded shells in this way allows the soft-bodied creature to hide from predatory
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cuttlefish, and divers who get a bit to close.
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The coconuts can even be used as a getaway vehicle…the octopuses can roll away from
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danger, safe inside the shell.
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Number 2: Macaques.
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The next entry on this list has been so successful at using their particular tool and method
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that they have come close to pushing their prey towards extinction…so it appears humans
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aren’t the only primate able to do this…though we obviously do it on a much bigger scale.
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Long-tailed macaque forage for shellfish on islands off Thailand, then crack them open
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with stone tools.
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They target the largest rock oysters, bludgeoning them with stone hammers, and pry open the
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shells with the flattened edges of their tools.
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It’s great to see more primates using tools for finding food, but by over-harvesting their
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prey that are even putting their own technology knowledge at risk.
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How will they pass on the skills to harvest the food when there’s no more food to harvest?
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Number 1: Sea Otters.
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We mentioned earlier in the video about an animal that makes Dolphin tool use look like
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child’s play, well it’s these cute creatures.
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Recent research has indicated that otters learned how to use tools long before other
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marine mammals.
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A genetic study of more than 100 wild sea otters living off the Californian coast suggests
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their ancestors living millions of years ago showed this behavior.
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So, what do they do?
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Well, sea otters are often seen floating on their backs, using rocks to break open shellfish
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for food.
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In comparison to the Dolphin example we discussed earlier, this is not a recent phenomenon,
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and researchers even plan to study fossil remains to get a better understanding of exactly
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when they started doing this.
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If sea otters’ ancestors held rocks on their chests, then that may explain the depressions
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found in the chests of some modern otters.
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What’s even more interesting is that otter pups express rudimentary tool behavior in
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captivity without any demonstration or training, which could be further evidence for it starting
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a long, long time ago.
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Tell us what you think about these brilliant creatures in the comments below and…take
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care!
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This post was previously published on YouTube.