Aug 5, 2008 00:22
<p>Birds of a feather don&rsquo;t just flock together--they also work together to obtain food. Recent research makes rooks the first nonprimates observed to successfully cooperate to retrieve a food-laden platform, according to a June 22 study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.<p>Scientists at the University of Cambridge tested the rooks, which are Eurasian members of the crow family, by placing dishes of food on a platform out of reach of a bird enclosure. A single string looped from the enclosure to the platform and back again. Moving the platform closer required pulling on both ends of the string simultaneously, a feat that is only possible if two birds work together, each tugging on one end. <a href=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfmid=rooks-take-food&amp;sc=rss>More
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