The 8 Best Animal Tools

Brandon Keim over at Wired Science has compiled a list of some of "the most interesting animal tool use yet observed".

...after digging a water hole, elephants will strip bark from a tree, chew it into a ball, then use it to fill the hole. Once the top has been covered with sand, the elephant has an evaporation-resistant canteen.


http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/animaltools.html

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A couple of decades ago, my wife and I watched for an hour as an elephant fashioned a lever out of a five-foot-long branch and tried to pry open a gate at the Columbus OH zoo.

Bales of hay had been stacked 10feet beyond their outdoor enclosure and the bull decided he REALLY wanted it. He studied the situation (you could see him working the problem) and tried everything he could to get the lever between the gate and the padlock chain.

He tried everything he could but did not have the dexterity and could not get the leverage he needed to pop it. He finally got frustrated and gave up, but it was fascinating to watch him actually fashion a tool.

(BTW: this was when the zoo was run by Jack Hannah who we had seen working with them since he was a teenager.)
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Cute. But, (with a disclaimer that I am not saying all people in Russia are like this) I do find it a bit sad that some of the people seem to tolerate and even enjoy the presence of animals, more so than they would humans of different races/ethnicities/sexualities.

Now off my high horse.
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"I do find it a bit sad that some of the people seem to tolerate and even enjoy the presence of animals, more so than they would humans of different races/ethnicities/sexualities."

here is your answer :
"they are civil enough not to poop in the station. we humans should be ashamed of ourselves for littering everywhere."
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Awww.
If they want to control their feral dog population, they could adopt a program to capture and neuter/spay as many of the dogs as they can.
Also educate people about doing that to pets and not releasing them in to the wild when they're no longer wanted.
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@ LisaL
I glanced past your comment really quickly and thought you said they should capture and neuter spy dogs...that would be a very interesting comment about dogs in the USSR.
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When I lived in Archangel in North Russia the stray dogs were not cute. I had to take the taxi if I bought roasted chicken, because the stray dogs would attack my groceries if walked home.

Couldn't take the bus, cause there were stray dogs in the bus... not really. I hate dogs
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I can tell you that there is much life in the Moscow Metro lines. They are very deep, and so stay warm in the Winter.

And I have to say that many stations are quite beautiful, as well.
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They do the same in Buenos Aires. I am not sure they use the metro for a ride downtown but they use it to keep warm in the winter. Normally, people do not mind and they let them have their nap in peace...
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Awww.
If they want to control their feral dog population, they could adopt a program to capture and neuter/spay as many of the dogs as they can.
Also educate people about doing that to pets and not releasing them in to the wild when they're no longer wanted.

Yes, but there are 35,000 stray dogs in Moscow, how are you going to do that? Only 500 live in subway stations, and of them, only 20 ride the trains. A few even take the escalators. Above ground they have been seen crossing the street with the signals.
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