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Tools and food on heat lamps: pyrocognitive sparks in New Caledonian crows?

Jacobs, Ivo LU orcid ; von Bayern, Auguste and Osvath, Mathias LU (2021) In Behaviour 159-602. p.591-602
Abstract

Fire has substantially altered the course of human evolution. Cooking kindled brain expansion through improved energy and time budgets. However, little is known about the origins of fire use and its cognitive underpinnings (pyrocognition). Debates on how hominins innovated cooking focus on archaeological findings, but should also be informed by the response of animals towards heat sources. Here, we report six observations on two captive New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) contacting heat lamps with tools or placing raw food on them. The tools became singed or melted and the food had browned (and was removed). These results suggest that New Caledonian crows can use tools to... (More)

Fire has substantially altered the course of human evolution. Cooking kindled brain expansion through improved energy and time budgets. However, little is known about the origins of fire use and its cognitive underpinnings (pyrocognition). Debates on how hominins innovated cooking focus on archaeological findings, but should also be informed by the response of animals towards heat sources. Here, we report six observations on two captive New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) contacting heat lamps with tools or placing raw food on them. The tools became singed or melted and the food had browned (and was removed). These results suggest that New Caledonian crows can use tools to investigate hot objects,which extends earlier findings that they use tools to examine potential hazards (pericular tool use), and place food on a heat source as play or exploration.Further research on animals will provide novel insights into the pyrocognitive origins of early humans.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Tool use, Fire, Cooking, Pyrocognition, Cognitive evolution
in
Behaviour
volume
159-602
pages
12 pages
publisher
Brill
external identifiers
  • scopus:85130349431
ISSN
1568-539X
DOI
10.1163/1568539X-bja10138
project
Pyrocognition: the evolution of understanding fire and cooking
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
83209276-a205-44ab-8661-38a187926cb3
date added to LUP
2021-11-24 12:35:25
date last changed
2022-07-08 15:22:47
@article{83209276-a205-44ab-8661-38a187926cb3,
  abstract     = {{<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Fire has substantially altered the course of human evolution. Cooking kindled brain expansion through improved energy and time budgets. However, little is known about the origins of fire use and its cognitive underpinnings (pyrocognition). Debates on how hominins innovated cooking focus on archaeological findings, but should also be informed by the response of animals towards heat sources. Here, we report six observations on two captive New Caledonian crows (<i>Corvus moneduloides</i>) contacting heat lamps with tools or placing raw food on them. The tools became singed or melted and the food had browned (and was removed). These results suggest that New Caledonian crows can use tools to investigate hot objects,which extends earlier findings that they use tools to examine potential hazards (pericular tool use), and place food on a heat source as play or exploration.Further research on animals will provide novel insights into the pyrocognitive origins of early humans.</p>}},
  author       = {{Jacobs, Ivo and von Bayern, Auguste and Osvath, Mathias}},
  issn         = {{1568-539X}},
  keywords     = {{Tool use; Fire; Cooking; Pyrocognition; Cognitive evolution}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{591--602}},
  publisher    = {{Brill}},
  series       = {{Behaviour}},
  title        = {{Tools and food on heat lamps: pyrocognitive sparks in New Caledonian crows?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-bja10138}},
  doi          = {{10.1163/1568539X-bja10138}},
  volume       = {{159-602}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}