welcome guest
login or register

20th of Ocrtober 2024

20th of Ocrtober 2024
A woodpecker has their workshop in the utility pole at my yard. Knocking with its beak the bird has carved a wedge-shaped furrows to the pole. It flies to fetch a cone from the nearby spruce trees, it inserts the cone into a furrow, where it stays firmly, upside down. From that on it is rather easy for the woodpecker to open the scales of the cone to access the seeds for food. I don't know what is the general scientific consensus, but the way I see it, this counts as an ability to create and utilize tools. (But, of course one could debate if this ability is a learnt skill, or just encoded into the genes - but even if the skill was passed from generation to another by genetic memory, I don't think it would make it any less marvelous.) Wikipedia says that the average life span of a woodpecker is unknown. I think there has been a woodpecker using the workshop for more than ten years, but I can't say if it is has been the same one for all the years. This kind of woodpecker workshop sites are somewhat common in older coniferous forests, and there is one in the tiny islet as well.
up
10 users have voted.

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
Please reply with a single word.
Fill in the blank.