What do water displacement tests show?

Crows drop stones to raise water levels

What did a 2018 study show they could do?

Combine short pieces into longer tools

What is meta-tool use?

Using one tool to get another tool

What do these crows sometimes do with good tools?

Carry them around and store them

New Caledonian Crow Quiz: Hooked Tools and Clever Birds

On a Pacific island, crows make and carry tools in ways once thought unique to humans and great apes, and this New Caledonian crow quiz explores the research. Play 10 interactive questions on hooked stick tools, stepped pandanus leaves, Betty bending wire, Aesop's fable tests, compound tools, meta-tool use, cultural differences and carrying tools between sites.

Start New Caledonian Crow Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Island
Where do New Caledonian crows live?
Hooks
What kind of tool do they make from twigs?
Leaves
Which plant leaves do they cut into stepped tools?
Food
What do they mainly use tools to catch?
Betty
What did the crow Betty famously do in 2002?
Aesop
What do water displacement tests show?
Compound
What did a 2018 study show they could do?
Meta
What is meta-tool use?
Culture
Why do tool designs differ between regions?
Carry
What do these crows sometimes do with good tools?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where do New Caledonian crows live?
Answer: New Caledonia in the Pacific
It is a French territory.
Q2: What kind of tool do they make from twigs?
Answer: Hooked sticks
They shape the hook with their bills.
Q3: Which plant leaves do they cut into stepped tools?
Answer: Pandanus
The tools taper like steps.
Q4: What do they mainly use tools to catch?
Answer: Insect larvae in wood
Grubs are rich in fat.
Q5: What did the crow Betty famously do in 2002?
Answer: Bent a straight wire into a hook
Oxford researchers filmed it.
Q6: What do water displacement tests show?
Answer: Crows drop stones to raise water levels
They mimic Aesop's fable.
Q7: What did a 2018 study show they could do?
Answer: Combine short pieces into longer tools
It was a world first for birds.
Q8: What is meta-tool use?
Answer: Using one tool to get another tool
Crows solved such sequences.
Q9: Why do tool designs differ between regions?
Answer: Crows may pass on local styles
Scientists see this as cultural transmission.
Q10: What do these crows sometimes do with good tools?
Answer: Carry them around and store them
They reuse favorite tools.

New Caledonian Crow Quiz – Hooked Tools and Clever Birds

New Caledonian crows live on the Pacific island of New Caledonia. They make hooked tools from twigs and cut stepped tools from pandanus leaves to pull insect larvae from holes in wood.

In 2002 a captive crow named Betty, studied at Oxford, bent a straight wire into a hook. Crows also drop stones into water to raise the level, like the bird in Aesop's fable, and solve meta-tool tasks using one tool to fetch another.

A 2018 study showed they can combine short pieces into longer compound tools. Tool styles differ between regions, suggesting cultural transmission, and crows often carry and reuse favorite tools.

What This Quiz Teaches

Animal and science fans will enjoy these questions.

Where these crows live
Which tools they make
What experiments showed
How they solve puzzles
Why tool styles differ

Did You Know?

Young crows learn by watching adults.
Their bills are unusually straight for crows.
Hawaiian crows also use tools.
Juveniles take months to master tool making.
Researchers use cameras on wild birds.