Puffins using sticks for grooming, 나무가지로 단장하는 바다쇠오리

  People often underestimate the cognitive ability of birds, however, they will be surprised if they have a bird as a companion. When I had a small parrot as a companion, I observed that she untied a string to go out of her cage and also she cut paper to utilize it as jewelry. Animals that use tools are considered to have high cognitive ability, and here is another observation to demonstrate the ability of birds.

 

Atlantic Puffin @Jerry Amende/Audubon Photography Awards

 

  A team led by Annette Fayet, an ecologist at the University of Oxford who studies puffin migration, observed two puffins using a stiff stick for scratching themselves. Since it is the first time wild seabirds were spotted using tools, it was an important footage.

 

  Fayet indicated that it could mean wild seabirds have had an ability to use tools with the reason for using. Puffins that used the sticks were observed in Wales and in an Icelandic island. They were spotted at locations 1,700 kilometers far from each other; therefore it is not a single population. It is important that each seabird is getting used to using a stick independently.

 

 

  The authors assume puffins use the stick for grooming themselves; for example, a puffin on the island used a stick to scratch its chest feathers. It would be helpful to knock off seabird ticks. Researchers say that it is not usual for an animal to use tools for grooming. The common reason for an animal to use a tool is for eating.

 

 

observe 관찰하다
scratch 긁다
spot 발견하다
ecologist 생태학자
migration 이주, 이동
footage 장면, 화면
cognitive ability 인지 능력
knock off 붙은 것을 내떨다
tick 진드기
groom 손질하다, 다듬다
captive 사로잡힌, 감금된
demonstrate 입증하다 보여주다
tactic 전술, 전략
stiff 딱딱한