BETTY the New Caledonian crow may not have been as famous as Alex the parrot, but her ability to turn a piece of wire into a hook to extract a previously inaccessible treat was a startling feat for an animal. Now she and her crow colleagues are back, demonstrating some remarkable skills that leave those of chimps behind (see 鈥淐an crows plan their actions?鈥�).
Betty and three other crows performed a sequence of actions that involved choosing, retrieving and using three tools, though Betty sadly cawed her last caw during the study. The crows鈥� abilities show a level of abstract thinking that makes it tempting to wonder how their consciousness compares with ours. Studying what is going through the crows鈥� heads as they use tools comes next. It will be fascinating to see what the researchers discover.
