In order to explain behaviour, we need to ask and answer questions on all four levels of analysis according to Nikolaas Tinbergen. But to understand what this means for the evolution of tool use, we need a large integrative study. We are planning studies with close relatives of the Goffin’s cockatoo at the Loro Parque on Tenerife in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute.įWF: What does the START Award mean for your research activities?Īuersperg: We knew that Goffin’s cockatoos use tools very confidently. In an unpredictable environment it would be unwise to be a specialist stuck in routines. The more opportunistic an animal is – or so runs the hypothesis – the more flexible is its brain and the better its problem-solving capacity. When a nutritious morsel is embedded somewhere, the use of tools becomes relevant. It is important to know, for example, what resources the birds need and whether these are available seasonally and predictably. We will expand the field laboratory and look at certain behaviour patterns in relation to the ecology of the Goffin’s cockatoos. Alice AuerspergĪuersperg: We will start with field research on the Moluccan Islands, because we already have a prospective team for this purpose. In order to better understand our own evolution, we are investigating the reasons for tool use by Goffin’s cockatoos. We test their mental flexibility and their memory. We measure its visual field in relation to the length of the tool, for instance, and check to what extent the animal understands the physical and causal relationships it establishes between objects by means of the tool. And the last question: how does tool use work, what mechanisms are involved? In order to find out, we investigate the cockatoo’s perception and its cognitive abilities. We test this by giving comparable tasks to species closely related to the Goffin’s cockatoo. These are the questions we try to answer: what in the nature and environment of the Goffin’s cockatoo inspires it to invent tools? How does tool use develop as the bird grows up? Did this ability really start in this species or is it an older behavioural trait? There are several theories on tool use and we base our work on all four levels of analysis according to Tinbergen. It can make a tool for a given task, such as a hook, out of various materials like twigs, cardboard or wire.įWF: What answers would you like the project to provide?Īuersperg: We want to find out what triggers this behaviour and what type of cognitive basis is required. We know that the Indonesian Goffin’s cockatoo can craft and use specific tools on a level similar to higher primates. More than 300 million years of evolution separate us from the Indonesian Goffin’s cockatoo – our last common ancestor lived long before the dinosaurs. In this way we can assume that this ability developed independently. In order to better understand our own technical evolution, we are investigating the reasons for tool use on a very distantly related species that has similar capabilities. ![]() ![]() Humans and other higher primates manufacture and use tools for specific tasks. Alice Auersperg: It addresses the question of how tool use begins.
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