Publication Date:
2010-09-18
Description:
Tool use is so rare in the animal kingdom that its evolutionary origins cannot be traced with comparative analyses. Valuable insights can be gained from investigating the ecological context and adaptive significance of tool use under contemporary conditions, but obtaining robust observational data is challenging. We assayed individual-level tool-use dependence in wild New Caledonian crows by analyzing stable isotope profiles of the birds' feathers, blood, and putative food sources. Bayesian diet-mixing models revealed that a substantial amount of the crows' protein and lipid intake comes from prey obtained with stick tools--wood-boring beetle larvae. Our calculations provide estimates of larva-intake rates and show that just a few larvae can satisfy a crow's daily energy requirements, highlighting the substantial rewards available to competent tool users.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rutz, Christian -- Bluff, Lucas A -- Reed, Nicola -- Troscianko, Jolyon -- Newton, Jason -- Inger, Richard -- Kacelnik, Alex -- Bearhop, Stuart -- BB/C517392/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- BB/G023913/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Sep 17;329(5998):1523-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1192053.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. christian.rutz@zoo.ox.ac.uk〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20847272" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Aleurites
;
Animals
;
Bayes Theorem
;
Beetles
;
Carbon Isotopes/analysis/blood
;
Crows/*physiology
;
Diet
;
Feathers/chemistry
;
*Feeding Behavior
;
Female
;
Larva
;
Male
;
New Caledonia
;
Nitrogen Isotopes/analysis/blood
;
Nuts
;
*Tool Use Behavior
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
