Nature & Environment
This Machine Teaches Wild Crows to Bring You Coins for Peanuts (VIDEO)
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Mar 11, 2015 10:20 AM EDT
You may have heard of the girl who received gifts from crows after feeding them peanuts, but have you heard of the device that trains birds to give you presents? A man from Brooklyn has created a crowbox that trains crows to bring you coins in exchange for food.
Crows are corvids, which are a group of birds that are famed for their intelligence. Crows, ravens rooks and magpies, which are all corvids, have been found to be able to use tools in order to accomplish various tasks. Past studies have shown that ravens can understand social hieracrchy, and crows can make strategic decisions. But corvids aren't just famed for their intelligence. They're also known to collect shiny objects.
And that's why the new Crow Box works. In the first stage, the device pushes a few peanuts and one or two coins into the feeder tray whenever a crow leaves the devices. This ensures the device always has food whenever it's examined by a potential feed crow. It also ensures that the sound of device occurs in proximity to the feeding. During stage two, the food and coins are given when a crow arrives. Then in stage three, the coins alone are made available when the bird lands on the perch. When the bird pecks the coins into the tray, the device produces peanuts. In the fourth and final stage, nothing is provided and crows much search for coins to place into the funnel. Scattering coins around the device on the ground will give the crows the idea and they can go from there.
This device is relatively simple, and you can even purchase the kit online.
Want to learn more about the coin experiment? You can check out a video of an interview with hacker and writer Joshua Klein, the inventor of the Crow Box, below or here.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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First Posted: Mar 11, 2015 10:20 AM EDT
You may have heard of the girl who received gifts from crows after feeding them peanuts, but have you heard of the device that trains birds to give you presents? A man from Brooklyn has created a crowbox that trains crows to bring you coins in exchange for food.
Crows are corvids, which are a group of birds that are famed for their intelligence. Crows, ravens rooks and magpies, which are all corvids, have been found to be able to use tools in order to accomplish various tasks. Past studies have shown that ravens can understand social hieracrchy, and crows can make strategic decisions. But corvids aren't just famed for their intelligence. They're also known to collect shiny objects.
And that's why the new Crow Box works. In the first stage, the device pushes a few peanuts and one or two coins into the feeder tray whenever a crow leaves the devices. This ensures the device always has food whenever it's examined by a potential feed crow. It also ensures that the sound of device occurs in proximity to the feeding. During stage two, the food and coins are given when a crow arrives. Then in stage three, the coins alone are made available when the bird lands on the perch. When the bird pecks the coins into the tray, the device produces peanuts. In the fourth and final stage, nothing is provided and crows much search for coins to place into the funnel. Scattering coins around the device on the ground will give the crows the idea and they can go from there.
This device is relatively simple, and you can even purchase the kit online.
Want to learn more about the coin experiment? You can check out a video of an interview with hacker and writer Joshua Klein, the inventor of the Crow Box, below or here.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone