Thanks Indians and Wolfgenuity
Members of the Heiltsuk Nation, an Indigenous government in British Columbia, had placed the traps to capture invasive green crabs that destroy eelgrass habitats which support marine life and decimate the clam, herring and salmon populations the tribe depends on for food. But on their return, they found some of them had been shredded to pieces. The finger of blame was initially pointed at both bears and wolves, although some suspected marine mammals might have been behind the damage because the traps were submerged in deep water. A team of researchers led by Paul Paquet, an adjunct professor at Canada’s University of Victoria, set out to solve the mystery. Within a day, they caught their culprit after installing remote, movement-triggered cameras overlooking the water.
The video below shows a female wolf diving into the water to grab a fishing float, carrying it to the beach and repeatedly tugging on the attached rope until the trap surfaced. She then tore it apart to eat the fish inside. “This sequence appears to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the multi-step connection between the floating buoy and the bait within the out-of-sight trap,” the study’s authors wrote. While domestic animals, including dogs, have been previously observed using tools to their advantage, this is the first recorded case of such behavior in wild wolves. Whether the trap-pulling behavior counts as conscious “tool use” remains a matter of scientific debate.
However, when animals perform “multi-step behaviors repeatedly and efficiently,” even the simplest explanation for their actions may involve at least some “causal understanding” on their part, they wrote, adding that this “would be assumed for a human in similar circumstances.” Such behavior has been documented before in captive wolf populations, where animals cooperated in a string-pulling task for a reward, she said, adding that it would be interesting to see whether the behavior spread in the wild wolf population “by social learning.” “That is, if other wolves pick up this behavior from the wolf that started pulling in the traps.” Regardless of the extent to which the wolf truly understood the trap’s mechanics, the very act of appropriating human tools to achieve a goal is what the authors said was “noteworthy.” “But cases like this are dramatic reminders of the wonders and connectedness of our natural world.”
Jokes Discovered
Investigating Hillary Clinton is like fishing on Discovery Channel
… you catch them, you show them, and then you let them go.
A new discovery is made pertaining to the ethnicity of Ancient Egyptian Kings Archaeologists have discovered that the kings of Ancient Egypt were in fact black. Upon unwrapping the gold sarcophagus they found the body of a dark chocolate skinned man. He ws the legendary Pharaoh Rocher.
I reported my discovery of a new Dwarf Star to the Astronomy Society, They let me name it.
I am gonna call it Peter Twinklage.
How long did it take to discover has Covid 19 been deadly?
From right off the bat.
January 15th Birthdays
1997 – Valentina Zenera, 1997 – Dove Cameron, 1984 – Regina King, 1987 – Kelly Kelly
1969 – Chad Lowe, 1985 – Ben Shapiro, 1979 – Drew Brees, 1929 – Martin Luther King, Jr.