'The birds acted as if they knew what they were doing,' the two researchers say in Scientific American. By contrast, ravens have demonstrated that they can work out complex sets of actions, involving no tests or trial and error. However, such creatures are programmed genetically to undertake the different steps involved in such behaviour. Many animals, birds and insects are capable of carrying out complex actions: nest-building, for example. These birds have never seen string before or encountered meat hanging this way, yet they worked out exactly what they needed to do to get a treat.' I was extremely surprised the first time I saw one of them do this. 'However, I found ravens could perform this complex sequence of actions straight away. 'Some animals can be taught how to get food this way,' Heinrich said. By repeating this process half a dozen times, a raven could reach the end of the string and get the meat. To get a treat, a raven had to perform a complex series of actions: pull up some of the string, place a loop on the perch and hold it with a claw, then pull up another section of string and hold that loop on the perch. One startling experiment they outline involved ravens who were allowed to sit on perches from which pieces of meat dangled from string.
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