DesertFox
10-06-2007, 02:48 PM
Scientists have launched the avian equivalent of Big Brother in which tiny tail cameras give unparalleled access to the hidden world of the cleverest feathered toolmakers on the planet.
See the New Caledonian buzzard crows in action (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/photos.shtml)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2007/10/04/scicrow104.jpg
Wild New Caledonian crow with tailcam stuck up his arse (red arrow)
The ingenuity shown by New Caledonian crows in turning sticks, stems and leaves into tools to extract caterpillars and grubs is such that the birds have already been hailed as the Einsteins of the avian world.
Now a new video spying method has allowed Oxford University zoologists to 'hitch a ride' with wild birds on the Pacific island territory where they live to witness undisturbed behaviour, revealing feats that have never been witnessed before.
Observing the crows in the wild is extremely difficult because they are easily disturbed and live in densely forested, mountainous terrain. The secret of the new reality TV footage, published today in the journal Science, rests on miniaturised video cameras with integrated radio-tags - "tailcams" that weigh only 14 grams - that can be stuck on the tail feathers of wild, free-flying birds.
More (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/04/scicrow104.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox)
See the New Caledonian buzzard crows in action (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/photos.shtml)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2007/10/04/scicrow104.jpg
Wild New Caledonian crow with tailcam stuck up his arse (red arrow)
The ingenuity shown by New Caledonian crows in turning sticks, stems and leaves into tools to extract caterpillars and grubs is such that the birds have already been hailed as the Einsteins of the avian world.
Now a new video spying method has allowed Oxford University zoologists to 'hitch a ride' with wild birds on the Pacific island territory where they live to witness undisturbed behaviour, revealing feats that have never been witnessed before.
Observing the crows in the wild is extremely difficult because they are easily disturbed and live in densely forested, mountainous terrain. The secret of the new reality TV footage, published today in the journal Science, rests on miniaturised video cameras with integrated radio-tags - "tailcams" that weigh only 14 grams - that can be stuck on the tail feathers of wild, free-flying birds.
More (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/04/scicrow104.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox)