Crows show off a new trick

New Caledonian crows, whose problemsolving skills have long set them apart from other avians, can even assemble tools out of available parts, a new study has found. Native to the South Pacific island after which they are named, the birds became famous for their cognitive abilities in 2002, when a captive crow gained access to a treat by creating a hook from a wire. In the new study, eight crows were presented with an assortment of different-length cylinders. Individually, these sticks were too small to reach food that had been hidden in a box. But four of the birds realized within five minutes how to put two rods together, creating a pole that let them push the treat out of an opening in the container’s side. One bird even constructed a four-rod