Submitted by [deleted] t3_z772nc in explainlikeimfive
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Comments
DBDude t1_iy56zb2 wrote
Would we consider crows dropping nuts on roads so cars can run over them to be tool use? They're not wielding the tools themselves, but they understand the process of drop the nut, wait for cars, nut is cracked for them, eat the yummy insides.
Phage0070 t1_iy586np wrote
I think that is an anecdote with questionable validity. Crows have instincts to crack nuts on hard surfaces in general, not just roadways. If crows have been dropping nuts onto rocks for thousands of years then dropping them onto roads may not be considered tool use since there is no way to establish that they understand the role of the cars in cracking the nuts.
AngryBlitzcrankMain t1_iy50vnl wrote
Usually, separating between what is tool is if you have to "work the tool". Early hominids know how to use stick or stones, but it wasnt until they started to sharpen the sticks and stones when we refered to it as tools, since they were not using stuff normaly found in nature, like certain animals can. This is the same thing.
MadMunky5B5 t1_iy521n6 wrote
Humans also like being special so we move the goal post when animals take steps towards diminishing our "specialness."
Spillo2382 t1_iy51iah wrote
Look at it this way, do you consider stones and bricks tools?
Phage0070 t1_iy52bvj wrote
One big difference is that the animal is using a tool towards a specific, understood goal instead of blind instinct.
For example a wasp can build a nest out of mud and a beaver can build a dam from wood and mud, but the beaver will also try to pack wood and mud over a speaker making the noise of running water. The beaver isn't making the dam with the intent to create a lake, it is doing it because a set of instincts tells it to.
In contrast a raven that uses a stick to reach a piece of food, or better yet to trigger a mechanism to release food, is using a tool to achieve an understood objective. There is no instinct to use a stick to trigger a mechanism, the raven could only be doing that because it understands the task and the tool use.