WEBVTT - You're Such a Tool (User) 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.080 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.680 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.120 what is this thing that you have constructed on your 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.880 side of the desk? Um, it's I guess it's kind 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:27.000 of a note holder, and it's it's a made out 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.080 of some sort of box that I found, and it's 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.479 got paper clips that apparently aren't doing anything, but it 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.239 is serving a purpose and a clothes pin apparently. Oh 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:36.640 that's right. Well, I don't know where you got a 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.680 clothes pin in the office, but well, some of us 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:45.360 like to save energy. You are laundry here and floor balcony, 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.280 we get a lot of wind out there. Yeah exactly, Yeah. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.320 I Um, I engaged in a bit of this is 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.199 of course tool use that you're engaging in here, yes, 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.840 and uh and I actually engaged in a little bit 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.840 of this during our recent um great freeze that hit 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.959 Atlanta Seddon Snowmageddon as some people call it. And uh, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.840 the situation was that we kept making hot tea because 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.920 that was all we could basically, you know, it's just like, 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:11.520 let's just what are we gonna do? Now, let's make 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.600 hot tea? What we're gonna do? Now, let's play scrabble 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.240 and let's make hot tea. And that was like, you know, 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.119 four days of being trapped inside doing that, and our 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.640 T ball was like the chain was broken on it. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.080 So ended up like constructing something where I took like 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.360 the T ball and then I used some like some 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.680 like butcher twine. Is a book called butter twine, Yes, yes, 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.040 and uh, and like I used that to attach it 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.240 to to like a metal skewer and uh and created 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.600 a system of being of moving the T ball in 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.320 and out of the the boiling kettle. So um wow, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:43.720 So I have to ask you, did you make so 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:45.720 much tea that you guys broke it and then you 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:50.240 needed to resort to tool using behavior. Yes, so you 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:53.720 found out a little something about yourself during Snowmageddon. Yeah, 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:55.720 I think I think I did. And it's it's interesting 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.320 as we get into this and we start talking about 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.360 tool use in the animal kingdom, you do see that 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:04.280 captivity and uh, and we'll often bring out, um, the 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.640 more innovative side of many animals. An animal that is 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.320 not necessarily a tool user may become one in captivity. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.720 Uh well, and one that is capable of only say, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.520 like a very low level tool use is sometimes capable 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.000 of higher level tool use if they're locked in a zoo. Okay, 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.360 so boredom is the mother of invention, is what I'm hearing. Yes, 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.520 also the mother of of injury. But but, but but 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.480 luckily nothing went wrong with the the the t H 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.639 ball invention that I came up with. So let's um, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.919 let's talk about tool use then. Yeah? Okay, so I 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.280 guess we we normally think about tool use uh in primates, 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.839 right and goodall witnessing a single blade of grass being 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.760 stuck down into a termite mound and then a lovely 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.520 snack emerging. Yeah, or just like you know, two thousand 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.200 and one to Space Odyssey, monkeys picking up bones beating 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.000 other monkeys on the head because weapons are ultimately ultimately tools, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.040 right right, But I think that we we we don't 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.880 necessarily look to other animals and think, oh, well, I 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.960 bet that they're an extraordinary tool user, right, But in 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:14.760 fact they are. And my favorite example is the octopus. Actually, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.000 oh yeah, yeah, this one is is really cool? Now, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.359 this is uh an octopus? As we all know, does 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.400 not have a a shell. There are various cephalopots that do. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.919 But the octopus depends on other methods of survival camouflage, 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.840 of shape changing basically and uh and and being able 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:35.960 to sort of creeper around and not draw a lout 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.720 of attention to itself. Yeah. But what do you do 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.000 if you've got across the sea floor and there's nothing 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.840 to camouflage yourself against and I don't know, you've got 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.480 another mile to go. Well, you could, I guess you could. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.440 If you could evolve, you could slowly develop some sort 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.160 of a protective coating through uh, you know, through you know, 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.920 one dead octopus after another dead octopus, until um, you 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.440 end up you know, selecting that octopus that has a 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.680 harder shell. Right, Yeah, yeah, I guess you could. Or 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.480 in the short term, if you lived in Indonesia and 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.120 you are an octopus and you saw a coconut on 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.440 the bottom of the sea floor, you could take the 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.280 two halves of it and you could crawl into it 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.840 when you needed to and reassemble it. And no one 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:21.960 would be the wiser, right, They'd be like, oh gosh, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.240 that that's not prey, that's just a stupid coconut, and 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:27.320 I love that. I love that octopus is like, you 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.200 know what this this is something that I can obscure 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.800 myself in nobody's gonna know, and now I can resume 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.760 my journey. Wow, that's really incredible. It's um and and 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.200 and and it just goes to show that, I mean, 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.880 all tool use really kind of close us into something 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.160 to some serious cognition going on. Yeah, and an octopier 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.960 pretty smart. As one of the reasons I me personally, 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.080 I can't really eat them uh in sushi anymore. I 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.200 just you know, I hear they're as smart as cats, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.320 you know, from various things. And then I look at 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:58.719 my cat and I'm like, I wouldn't needt my cat 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.240 on a californ in your role or yeah, if I 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.320 did eat seafood, I have to say, just just the 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.360 look of them, I don't know, it just seems it 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.599 seems like a frightening proposition to have that in my mouth. 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.120 But what I what I think is so cool too 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.680 about this coke in that example is it totally reminded 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.400 me of this invention. It's in Japan and have you 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:21.080 ever seen this? It's this fold up coke machine. Okay, well, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:25.120 it's but I do really want to do an episode 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.760 about amazing vending machines sometimes, so do all right, Okay, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.760 there's actually there's plenty of them, listeners. I think you 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.120 wink wink, I think you might know we're talking about here. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.760 But this I love the idea of this, but it's 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.320 super silly. I mean, it's flat packed, looks like a 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.560 coke machine. When you unpack it, you hip yourself in 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.120 it and then lo and behold you look like a 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.520 plastic vending machine. So what happens when people put money 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.440 into you or reaching to you for snacks? You have 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.920 several choices in response. But I was thinking, you know 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.080 that the octopus is is actually much more clever than 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:01.240 us humans in trying to camouflage themselves on the streets, 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.760 so to speak. Well, that's awesome. It's um, we're researching 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.320 about this and a lot of tool use um. When 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.039 it comes to you know, the brain comes down to 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:15.400 something uh that we call body scheme schema schema. Yeah, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.120 and uh and this is uh, this idea has been 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.080 around for about a hundred years and it's and it's 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.120 the idea that our brains are just constantly processing visual 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.680 tactile feedback about what our bodies are doing and how 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.599 they're positioned, and you you create these different sort of 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.760 versions of ourselves, you know. So like I like to 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:35.559 think of it in terms of like martial arts movies, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.520 where like somebody goes into say like drunken monkey stance 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.960 or or tiger stance, you know. But but we have 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.799 but as tool users, we have a well as humans, 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.600 we would have other stances like oh my goodness, don't 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:49.800 hit me in the face of that ball stance or 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.719 um or I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna chase the 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.599 cat stands. That those you know, different body positions that 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.760 are aimed towards particular tasks. But when you're throw in 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.000 tools and you get all these differ different additional positions, 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.880 you get like grumpy snow shoveler stance or intense polentis 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.680 stir stands, toothbrusher stands. Don't forget rosota stands, the zota stands. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.960 It's that the other one that involves a lot of stirring. Yeah, 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.680 I just know I'll be asked to stir something and 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.200 and then I just I lose all memory of what 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.240 I'm stirring. It's so it takes so long, delicious when 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.840 it's done, but it's just it's quite quite an effort. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:31.040 But but anyway, um, so our brains are constantly you know, working, 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.520 working this out, and it's it's it's definitely an instance 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.520 of these tools becoming an extension of our bodies. They're 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.200 a part of our body. Scam there, they become part 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:44.520 of who we are. You know, we were used to 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.480 hearing about this. One's like you hear people talking about 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.720 like swordsmanship or golf, you know, and you hear it's like, oh, 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:51.680 well you need to make the club an extension of 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.760 your arm. Yeah, be one with the sword or something, 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.240 you know. And that's exactly what's going on. Like the 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.240 more you're you're able to, the better you are using 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.000 a tool, the more the brain identifies it as a 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.240 part of yourself, right right. And actually they were us 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.720 on a study from the National Institute of Health on 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.040 tool use tasks for toddlers, and they were talking about 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.800 how toddlers um that we're using tools to act on themselves, 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.640 like feed themselves, for instance. We're picking up on that 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.559 and using that a lot more than externally. In other words, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.880 like you know, feeding Elmo some keenoir or something. Um. 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.360 And so you do you see that that idea of 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.560 it being an extension of yourself right there in that example, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.600 and that we automatically say, Okay, I'm a little toddler 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:38.559 brain and I'm trying to figure this out for myself, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.400 and here's my spoon. Um. But you know, Elmo is 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.960 not going to get his food until much later. But 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.760 that brings me to this point. You know, we should 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.880 probably talk exactly about what tool use is. I mean, 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.360 you know, it seems pretty obvious, but it's really defined 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.320 as providing no benefit until they're used for a very 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.000 specific purpose. So with animals, what's really cool about that 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.640 is that it shows that the animal is capable of 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.600 pre planning, advanced planning. Yeah, it's not just an animal, say, 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.960 picking up a stick and beating random things with it. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.319 It's there's no purpose to that. So's that's not tool used. Now, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.319 something like that night develop into tool use in time. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.920 But but yeah, there's got to be a purpose in mind. 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.280 That's right. We're saying a lot of cogitation going on. 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:31.199 Cogitation party, um, and they're actually um, I've read that 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:36.120 they're they're basically two types of tools. There is a 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.160 what is good. Well, first, there's something called an artifact, right, 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:44.000 An artifact is something that is crafted. For example, if 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.920 a chimp, you know, like I say, we're all using 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:47.559 like we used to seeing images of like a chimp 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.000 sticking a poking a stick down a termite hole and 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.880 coming up with termites to look off. Well, they've been 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.480 Chimps have been known to chew the termite fishing stick 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.200 so that it fits better into the holes. So they're 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.600 creating an artific fact. Now, if they had not used 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.760 their mouths to to alter it, they would have what 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.280 is sometimes called a nature fact, which is kind of 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.360 like just a found object tool like oh, here's a stick, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.240 I'll pick it up, I'll get some bugs on it 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.080 and eat the bugs off the stick, but I haven't 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.520 changed the stick. And then when it comes to these 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.960 different artifacts, they're basically four levels. Uh. There is reduction 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.200 where you reduce the mass of a functional object, like 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.240 take the stick, choose something off of it, Now you 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.160 can use it. Then there's conjunction where you combine two 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.800 or more units to make a tool. An example of 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.840 this where it would be you take like looking at 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.959 early humans, Like you take a stone, sharpen it into something, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:41.720 and then you attach it to a stick to make 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.640 a spear. Ghammo, you have a conjunction tool, and then 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.520 they're the third level replica replication. This would be where 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.840 it's conjunction but with two or more similar units. So 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.160 if you made a two headed spear, you know, you're, you're, you're. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.600 You have two different, three different things going on there, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.679 and then there's a linkage. And this is the most 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.600 more complicated form. And this is where you have physically 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.559 distinct forms used in combination. And that would be like 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.520 if you made a bow and you made an arrow. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.080 Bow and arrow are both rather different, but together you 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.480 have a a single um tool that's very useful to 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.320 early hunters. Okay, actually that was making me think about elephants. Um. 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.760 I know that in South Africa, it was observed that 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.640 an elephant, after digging a hole and drinking water and 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.800 presumably expitting that water back in, stripped bark from a 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.920 nearby tree and then chewed it into a large ball, 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.040 so transforming it, and then plug the hole and covered 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.800 it with sand, So essentially that the elephant was making 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.760 m a canteen. Yeah, and then taking that that ball 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.679 out again and slurping it up again. So that's that's 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.320 something definitely the elephant transformed its environment in order to 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.200 create this kind of groovy canteen. Wow. And yeah, and 0:11:55.200 --> 0:12:00.720 that's an elephant using like a level two artifact, right right. Um. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.880 I mentioned earlier about you know, how captivity can change 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.359 the level of tool use involved. We see that, um 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.720 with the Capucian monkeys. Um, if you've watched if you 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:15.400 watched Life, the awesome Discovery slash BBC show, there's you know, 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.400 great scenes in that and and various other documentaries that 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.480 show these these guys taking rocks and using them to 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.839 bust open nuts so they can eat the inside. And 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.240 they're very selective about their rocks, right, it's no no 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.240 rock will do right, and it takes them a while 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:30.840 to learn how to do it, like they're there are 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.000 also lots of cool you know, generally you see lots 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:34.800 of footage of the younger ones trying to do it 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.800 and just failing miserably, like picking the wrong stones, you know, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:43.560 et cetera. But uh, but the cool thing is that 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.720 they can actually they've actually been seen a craft tools 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:49.880 and captivity instead of because the rock that they're beating 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.640 the nutwi is just that's a nature of fact, but 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.520 ends captivity. Sometimes they make artifacts. They've been seen to 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.560 sticking two pieces of straw together to make a longer 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.000 probe to reach things that are outside of the cage. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:08.640 So so, so that's really cool. Again, you know, you captivity, boredom, invention, 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.679 creative mayhem, as in the case with actually again with 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.200 the octopive. I know there have been a couple of 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:17.520 different instances in captivity that they've done some stuff, And 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.040 one was at the Sona Santa Monica Pire Aquarium. There 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.400 was a female California two spotted octopus who swam to 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.200 the top of her tank, disassembled the valve with her arm, 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.920 and then released two hundred gallons of seawater into nearby 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:36.760 exhibits and offices. Yeah, so I mean that's pretty crazy. Yeah, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:41.040 And then I understand the same octopus stole somebody's wallet, 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:45.480 um made a xerox of their their driver's license, and 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.280 was able to skip the entire state. Like I think 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.080 they're still living in Nevada. Yeah I heard that too, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.520 but actually you say that, and it did make me think, like, 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.559 what's going on in the octopus mind there. I mean, 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.440 do you think that they're swimming around going, you know what? 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.160 I need to show all these other sea creatures who's 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.960 the boss here and what sort of force I have 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.600 and the power that I have in this aquarium. I'm 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:09.800 going to flood this place. O. Man, It's like a 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.319 like rock Stars trashing a hotel room. Yeah, totally, and 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.120 that's what I like. Pretty great. There was another one 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:20.120 UM who actually disassembled a robot. There was a Yeah, 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.000 there's this little robot puttering around the aquarium. I don't 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.200 know why they put it in there, but piece by 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.800 piece it was. That is awesome. Yeah. I've seen some 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.560 cool videos of polar bears um going and they have 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.000 these like ice flow robots. I posted on the Facebook 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.880 A want back. But they have like these little robots 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.760 that are disguised just like chunks of ice and they 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.160 either flowed or they sort of crawl around on the ice. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.720 But polar bears, you know, there's not I guess there's 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.160 not a lot to do. They're curious animals. They'll see 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.280 this man end up just tearing it to pieces. Of 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.760 course they're like, what is this? I need to help 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.360 bear come into my realm and and I think it's 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.320 going to get away. That's right, I'll show you. Um. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:02.400 But again, octopy really smart creatures obviously, And another really 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:04.800 cool thing about them is that they use their section 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:09.040 comps like pincers like we do. And they have so 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:13.080 many neurons actually firing in their arms and and neuron 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.640 neuron power. I guess you could say that they can 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.040 take every single one of those suckers and make them pincers, 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.560 which just really like blows our ability out of the 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:26.600 water there no pun intended. But a lot of this 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.160 is because these guys have like their ganglia is is 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:36.040 uh is, all grouped together, whereas with the molluskin nervous 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.000 system in other creatures like clams, for instance, they're all 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.320 over the place. They're widely dispersed. But you don't see 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.000 clams using a lot of tools. No, no, they don't. Sorry, 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.560 they might have a lovely pearl, but that's about it. Um. 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.120 But that's the cool thing about the octopia that they 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.040 do have this group of ganglia so to speak, and 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.640 that gives them the edge over other cephalodes I suppose. Now, 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.640 another interesting critter in the ocean that's been known to 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.040 use tools, as of course the dolphin, which comes as 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.960 less a surprise because everybody's on the you know, especially 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.480 thanks to John c. Lily. I was about to say, like, like, 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.120 I have to have to say like this again to 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.640 to to remind people who may or may not have 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.360 heard the podcast that we did on the Strange Life 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:25.480 Lives of Scientists. Uh. John cy Lily worked extensively with dolphins, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:29.240 and what we know is that dolphins can actually court 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.680 other humans given the right circumstances. Yeah. He uh, I 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:34.480 mean he's he's one of them. You really have to 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.760 trace the whole dolphin mania and our in a lot 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.720 of our cultural respect for dolphins back to this guy, 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.800 though he definitely had some made some very questionable choices 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.120 in his research. Um. But but yeah, so to today, 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.080 to you know, the post Flipper era, it comes as 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.240 no surprise that, yeah, dolphins can use tools. Yeah, of 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.600 course they can court us. That can flash us, you know, 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.320 the flashes of the oceans. Um. But the tool that 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.480 they use is really cool yeah sponges right, yeah, which 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.320 they used to stir the ocean bottom sand uh, to 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:09.439 uncover and disorient prey. Yeah. And the really cool thing 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.040 about this is that researchers have found that it's a 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.439 hunting technique that originated in a single female and has 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.679 passed from mother to daughter. Yeah, And what they did 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.720 is they analyze the mitochondrial DNA, which is the DNA 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.240 passed down by females, and they found that that the 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.960 thirteen spongers and one d seventy two non spongers. They 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.400 found the trait appeared to be passed on mostly within 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.399 a single family line and from mother to daughter, and 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.720 that sponging most likely originated in a recent ancestor. So 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.120 this is sort of a new thing for them. Um, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.480 And they say, well, okay, why what about the males 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.760 have coming? This isn't happening with them. And apparently they 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.720 hypothesized that male bottlenose dolphins tend to form close bonds 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.680 with other males and so those alliances aren't really seated 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.399 to seabed foraging since it's time consuming and it's a 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.600 solitary activity. I don't That seems kind a weak sauce 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.800 to me in terms of a theory, but well, it 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.600 reminds me a little bit of the the the cheetahs 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.719 that bring down ostriches and uh that it's covered in 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.160 one of the episodes of life where uh, since it's 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.200 only only the males doing it, Uh, it's not getting 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.639 passed on because the male cheatahs are not involved in 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:26.320 uh in rearing and and and raising of yawns. So 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:27.919 so yeah, it's interesting to think. It's like it's one 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.560 thing to develop to be able to to to develop 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.720 tool use, but you've got to be able to pass 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.040 it on. It's got to you know, because I guess 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.360 conceive what you could have have an animal out there 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:39.520 that that learns to use a tool, But is it 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:41.920 is it using it a is it using it a lot? 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.320 And be is it taking that and passing it on 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.120 to the next generation to where it becomes like standard practice, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.000 right like you seem like you do. Another example of 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.200 being in captivity is I remember working at the zoo 0:18:54.480 --> 0:19:00.000 um and finding out that the orangutans there were uh 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:01.679 trying to get out of the enclosure. Of course, as 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.720 they all tried to all the primates do, and the 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.120 first generation would just get electrocuted from the wire right, 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.120 And they did that, I don't know, maybe like five times, 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.440 and they said, okay, I'm gonna stop. The second generation. Uh, 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.959 they actually taught them like the wires hot be careful 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.040 and started, and so they started to try to build 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.879 things to get over the fence, and they were unsuccessful. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:27.119 And then the third generation again looked at all of 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.560 this going on and realized that they could actually like 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.480 short the wire by jumping on the I guess like 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.520 a tree, I can't remember exactly what it was, and 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.080 so they could then escape the enclosure that way. So 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.639 there you go. Yeah, there's a there's a there's a 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.159 really interesting recent radio Lab episode that dealt would a 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.560 again with the orangutanks trying to escape their their enclosure. 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.200 And this one involved like an orangutank that was apparently 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.040 using a little piece of metal to pick a lock. 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.000 So it's it's it's incredible what the higher primates can 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.879 it up to. Other examples from the Animal Kingdom, you 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.840 have gorillas that's sometimes use walking sticks. Then they'll use 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.639 them to test the depth of water to keep their 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.480 balance as they cross, which is really cool looking and 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:15.080 I've seen that before. If you go to YouTube you 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:16.720 can probably find it, especially when they take it and 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.600 they shake it at the younger gorillas and tell them 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:23.280 to to get off their lawn. Um, you have a 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:28.080 chimpanzees using clubs. There was another interesting recent case where 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.280 a chimpanzee to zoo was like stockpiling rocks to throw 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.400 because it was old and grumpy, apparently to throw at 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.800 the zoo visitors. I can advance planning, right, I mean, 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.640 if you're going to use as a projectile, Yeah, there's 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:47.360 some thought that needs to go in there, poor zoo goers. Um. 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.399 And of course we mentioned chimps foraging um and uh 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:56.280 and and also a macaques using rocks to bust open nuts. Um. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.800 Some more interesting examples, This was one I had never 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.720 heard of before, but up naked mole rats crafting masks. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.240 And first of all, I love naked mole rats, Like 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.880 they're just an amazing animal. If you get to see 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.280 some of the zoo, definitely see them because they're like 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:14.679 they're living in like a hive environment. There's they're naked, 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.600 they're funny looking, they walk backwards, they there's just they're 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.280