Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 17 July 2017

What ‘Thrones’ fans already know: Ravens can see ahead

By MALCOLM RITTER
AP Science Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — More
than 170 years after Edgar
Allan Poe’s fictional raven
croaked, “Nevermore,”
scientists are reporting
that real-life ravens think
about the future. In a se-
ries of tests, ravens showed
signs of a general planning
ability that previously had
been documented only in
people and great apes.
Even monkeys have failed
to show it. It’s not like you
could ask a raven to ar-
range your wedding: Ra-
vens showed they could
plan by setting aside a tool
that they suspected would
get them a tasty treat later.
And they prepared for fu-
ture bartering, too. Still, it’s
impressive. Ravens, along
with crows, jays and oth-
ers, belong to a bird group
called corvids. Some cor-
vids have shown that in
hoarding food, they do
some planning for the fu-
ture instead of just acting This 2016 photo made available by Lund University shows a raven holding a piece of wood next to a testing device in Lund, Sweden.
on natural urges. But does Associated Press
such foresight appear only
for that behavior, as has sity, tested five captive ra- doggie treat. They also knew would be useless for up again until the next day,
been proposed? Or can vens in two tasks they don’t learned that some other releasing the treat. a delay of 17 hours.
corvids, like people and do in the wild: using tools familiar objects, like a small They were allowed to Further work showed the
great apes, apply it to and bartering with humans. wooden wheel and a ball, choose one thing from the ravens would pass up an
other activities? This more They reported the results in would not work. tray. Fifteen minutes later, immediate reward if they
general planning ability re- a paper released Thursday Now the fun began. the box would show up could get a better one by
sults from the combination by the journal Science. In one experiment, the ra- again. Sure enough, in 14 waiting a while. The ravens
of several skills, and if it ap- The birds were shown a box vens were shown the box, cases of encountering the also showed they could
pears in both corvids and that had a tube sticking but without any stones tray and later seeing the barter for what they need-
great apes, it must have out of the top, plus three available. Then the box box reappear, they usually ed. The birds learned that
evolved more than once, stones. They learned that was taken away. An hour chose the stone and pro- they could exchange a
the Swedish researchers they could use a stone as later, in another location, ceeded to use it correctly. blue plastic bottle cap with
said. So the researchers, a tool. If they dropped it they were presented with The same thing happened one of the experiment-
Can Kabadayi and Math- down the tube, the box a tray containing a stone in another experiment, ers for the favored doggie
ias Osvath of Lund Univer- would release a coveted plus three objects the birds when the box didn’t show treat. q