Revisiting the definition of animal tool use

Amant, Robert St.; Horton, T. E.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.09.028

Cited by 151 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…By our definition, bait fishing is an example of tool use, at least according to the most commonly used definition of tool use attributed to Beck 1980. Other definitions of tool use categorize bait fishing as ‘ambiguous’ (St Amant & Horton 2008) or ‘borderline’ (Bentley‐Condit & Smith 2010) with respect to tool use. Many authors have argued that tool use and tool making require high‐level cognitive functioning.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We will then evaluate whether previously published observations provide convincing evidence of such behaviour having some biological significance, or whether its recognition results from over‐interpretation by human observers. Bait‐fishing may be considered as being an example of tool use by non‐humans (Beck 1980; St Amant & Horton 2008; Bentley‐Condit & Smith 2010). The main focus of research on tool use is its possible linkage with high‐level cognitive functioning, and thus its relevance to human evolution and illumination of animal cognition (see Hansell & Ruxton 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Fishing with a Bait or Lure: A Brief Review of the Cognitive Issues

Ruxton

Hansell

2010

Ethology

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Bait fishing is a behaviour described in only 12 species of birds, seven of which belong to the family Ardeidae (herons), the remaining five are scattered among four other bird families. This behaviour is defined as having the following characteristics: (1) Objects placed by the bait fisher on the water are buoyant and within a radius at which the fisher can strike at prey. (2) The objects attract or distract the fisher’s prey, with the effect that the fisher enhances its chances of prey capture. A review of the literature indicates that bait items are both selected from and placed within the environment to achieve enhanced prey capture success. It is concluded that bait fishing is a real and distinctive behaviour. The evolutionary route to bait fishing has most likely been through an association between particular floating objects and the occurrence of fish prey. The repositioning of these floating objects and the collection of objects of similar character would have then been sufficient to achieve the bait fishing behaviour now seen. Bait fishing falls within a commonly used definition of tool use. However, it is argued that, as with tool use and tool making in general, this does not necessarily imply special cognitive ability. The rare occurrence of bait fishing both within and across species as could be an indication of cognitive constraint; but this remains undemonstrated. Alternatively, this rarity could be explained if fishing is rarely more profitable than alternative foraging tactics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Fishing with a Bait or Lure: A Brief Review of the Cognitive Issues

Ruxton

Hansell

2010

Ethology

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“…Tool use, although rare in the animal kingdom, occurs in a wide range of taxa, including insects, fish, birds and mammals (St Amant & Horton 2008). While in some taxa the ontogeny of tool use appears to be triggered through inherent characteristics (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological characteristics contribute to sponge distribution and tool use in bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp.

Tyne¹,

Loneragan²,

Kopps³

et al. 2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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In Shark Bay, Western Australia, bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp. carry conical sponges Echinodictyum mesenterinum on their rostra in the only documented cetacean foraging behaviour using a tool ('sponging'). In this study, we examined the influence of various ecological factors on live sponge distribution and the occurrence of sponging in parts of the western gulf of Shark Bay. We assessed sponge distribution and seagrass cover along 12 transects of approximately 11 km length, by recording sponges and seagrass in a total of 1380 quadrats (1 × 1 m), of which 56 quadrats contained conical sponges. The occurrence of sponging dolphins ('spongers') was documented along 10 of these 12 transects. The distribution of conical sponges was negatively correlated with the distribution of seagrass: no conical sponges were observed in water depths of <10 m and no seagrasses were found at depths of >12 m. A digital elevation model, created from the sample depth data, identified channels in the region. Binary logistic and Poisson loglinear generalised linear models showed that water depth and bathymetric features including channel, substrate and slope were significant in predicting the occurrence and the mean number of conical sponges, as well as that of seagrass. Conical sponge distribution was positively correlated with the distribution of sponging, indicating that ecological factors influence where sponging occurs. The greater number of spongers found in this region may be explained by the larger area of habitat suitable for conical sponges in the western than the eastern gulf of Shark Bay.

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“…Later definitions of tool use like that provided by StAmant and Horton (2008) are less restrictive in this regard and only require a tool to be freely manipulable, but not necessarily detached fi-om the environment.…”

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confidence: 98%

Bimanual interference associated with handling different tool transformations.

Massen¹,

Sattler²

2013

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Research on bimanual coordination of hand movements has identified several loci of bimanual interference, including interference because of programming different movement parameters or selecting different targets for the two hands. This study investigates the extent and origin of interference when participants execute bimanual actions with tools. In the experiments, participants moved two tools, one with each hand, to two directly cued target locations. One type of tool transformed the body movement into a spatially compatible movement of the effective part of the tool, whereas the other transformed it into a spatially incompatible movement. Tool transformations for the two hands were either the same or different. Furthermore, target locations were either in the same or in different spatial directions. Results indicated significantly shorter reaction times (RTs) and less errors when tool transformations were the same for both hands. In addition, movements were initiated more quickly and less error-prone when targets were in the same direction, but this effect was modulated by the congruency of the two lever transformations. Investigations of the time course of the effects revealed that they were not because of early perceptual processing (Experiment 2). Furthermore, the general pattern of results occurred for different grip positions (Experiment 3) and different lever types (Experiment 4), suggesting that it reflects rather general constraints in bimanual coordination of tool-use actions.

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Revisiting the definition of animal tool use

Cited by 151 publications

References 25 publications

Fishing with a Bait or Lure: A Brief Review of the Cognitive Issues

Fishing with a Bait or Lure: A Brief Review of the Cognitive Issues

Ecological characteristics contribute to sponge distribution and tool use in bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp.

Bimanual interference associated with handling different tool transformations.

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