Cockatoos Opening Trash Bins
Jul. 25th, 2021 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithCockatoos in Sidney, Australia are teaching each other how to open trash bins. The techniques are spreading through social learning as the birds develop different cultures in different areas.
What fascinates me as a xenobiologist is that it's not a single-point phenomenon. There are multiple cockatoo super-genii in Sidney who are independently inventing the big-box dinner. Any species can throw one super-genius. Homo ergaster is kind of infamous for having done that ... and then everyone copied that sophisticated hand ax for over a million years, rather than expanding the repertoire with more tools. What marks the potential for advancement is the repetition of genii and the ability of those around them to copy and modify their inventions.
This is the second species I've seen doing this. The first is the Japanese macaque or snow monkey. Imo famously invented the sand-free sweet potato and the quick-rice snack, but they were already using hot springs, and some snow monkeys ride deer.
With two species throwing multiple super-genii, this is not a fluke. This is Gaia auditioning replacements for the dominant species, with an eye toward sentience given the developmental stage of the biosphere. With that in mind, I'm keeping an eye out for other species showing exceptional behavior. Helpfully, both cockatoos and macaques have some tolerance for human spaces, which would assist them in surviving a post-human world. It is possible that other species are also auditioning, but humans are most likely to notice those in closest proximity.
All the more extraordinary, with cockatoos entering the game, dinosaurs have an almost-unheard-of opportunity to regain lost planetary supremacy. That almost never happens. Gosh, I don't think I've seen seen the beginning of it before, although I know it can happen. Brewing in eggshells! Hee! Sorry, Homo saps, but I'm rooting for the dinosaurs.
As depressing as climate change is from the perspective of current species, it's also incredibly exciting if you know that every major extinction has brought astounding advances in new! improved! lifeforms. So I'm watching for candidates.
I think jellyfish, which are thriving to an exceptional degree in the new conditions, have a good shot at flipping the planet from single-organism dominant to communal-organism dominant. The seeds are in place, they just need an opportunity to grow, and that can't happen in a stable system, only in mass chaos.
The recent flooding got me thinking about how much harder it is for species to survive in a chaotic environment, like alternating floods and droughts. But then I remembered that some planets have mobile rather than sessile plants, which pretty much always starts because of a hostile, unpredictable environment. Earth already has fast plant motion, which is the hard part to develop. From there it's just a matter of figuring out that you can do all kinds of new things if you can move. Even more encouraging, a large and diverse group of fast-motion plants -- the carnivorous plants -- tend to live in marshy areas that will become much less predictable as the climate changes. So the question is whether they'll get the idea that they can move to a better location, and then whether they can evolve fast enough to survive. The downside is a lot of them are pretty delicate, sensitive things. The upside is they've already figured out how to live in very marginal, nutrient-poor habitats. The parallel with early lungfish is really pretty close.
We live in interesting times. The misery of coping with climate change is a lot like the misery of slogging through a rainforest. If you want to do research, you have to put up with pesky environments.
What fascinates me as a xenobiologist is that it's not a single-point phenomenon. There are multiple cockatoo super-genii in Sidney who are independently inventing the big-box dinner. Any species can throw one super-genius. Homo ergaster is kind of infamous for having done that ... and then everyone copied that sophisticated hand ax for over a million years, rather than expanding the repertoire with more tools. What marks the potential for advancement is the repetition of genii and the ability of those around them to copy and modify their inventions.
This is the second species I've seen doing this. The first is the Japanese macaque or snow monkey. Imo famously invented the sand-free sweet potato and the quick-rice snack, but they were already using hot springs, and some snow monkeys ride deer.
With two species throwing multiple super-genii, this is not a fluke. This is Gaia auditioning replacements for the dominant species, with an eye toward sentience given the developmental stage of the biosphere. With that in mind, I'm keeping an eye out for other species showing exceptional behavior. Helpfully, both cockatoos and macaques have some tolerance for human spaces, which would assist them in surviving a post-human world. It is possible that other species are also auditioning, but humans are most likely to notice those in closest proximity.
All the more extraordinary, with cockatoos entering the game, dinosaurs have an almost-unheard-of opportunity to regain lost planetary supremacy. That almost never happens. Gosh, I don't think I've seen seen the beginning of it before, although I know it can happen. Brewing in eggshells! Hee! Sorry, Homo saps, but I'm rooting for the dinosaurs.
As depressing as climate change is from the perspective of current species, it's also incredibly exciting if you know that every major extinction has brought astounding advances in new! improved! lifeforms. So I'm watching for candidates.
I think jellyfish, which are thriving to an exceptional degree in the new conditions, have a good shot at flipping the planet from single-organism dominant to communal-organism dominant. The seeds are in place, they just need an opportunity to grow, and that can't happen in a stable system, only in mass chaos.
The recent flooding got me thinking about how much harder it is for species to survive in a chaotic environment, like alternating floods and droughts. But then I remembered that some planets have mobile rather than sessile plants, which pretty much always starts because of a hostile, unpredictable environment. Earth already has fast plant motion, which is the hard part to develop. From there it's just a matter of figuring out that you can do all kinds of new things if you can move. Even more encouraging, a large and diverse group of fast-motion plants -- the carnivorous plants -- tend to live in marshy areas that will become much less predictable as the climate changes. So the question is whether they'll get the idea that they can move to a better location, and then whether they can evolve fast enough to survive. The downside is a lot of them are pretty delicate, sensitive things. The upside is they've already figured out how to live in very marginal, nutrient-poor habitats. The parallel with early lungfish is really pretty close.
We live in interesting times. The misery of coping with climate change is a lot like the misery of slogging through a rainforest. If you want to do research, you have to put up with pesky environments.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 09:34 pm (UTC)Still fairly certain that cats will evolve to take the top spot.. they have the smarts more or less already. They have the idea of community learning and memory and they're developing linguistic skills. They still lack tool-use however, but they're getting there.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 10:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 10:24 pm (UTC)I think at this point LeFish cats could be considered their own sub-species.
Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-26 01:03 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-26 01:22 am (UTC)Well, Scottish wildcats are considered a separate species, but they interbreed with domestic cats [which is kind of a problem]. In point of fact, most small [and not so small] wild cat species can interbreed with domestic cats.
What that says about cat genetics however...
Hemingway cats have a stable form of polydactyly mutation, they breed true [although not dominant with regular cats] They've certainly started to develop functional thumbs, and have crossed the boundary that they could be considered a new species. I suspect that they won't be classified as such though, it would make people uncomfortable.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-26 05:00 am (UTC)It's true that they can. Without human intervention, though, mostly they don't. A majority of hybrids come from breeding programs to produce new breeds like the Bengal and the Savanna Cat.
>> Hemingway cats have a stable form of polydactyly mutation, they breed true [although not dominant with regular cats] They've certainly started to develop functional thumbs, and have crossed the boundary that they could be considered a new species. I suspect that they won't be classified as such though, it would make people uncomfortable.<<
The strongest marker for species division is inability to produce fertile offspring with the closest relative(s). However, it's not a requirement. Another very common division is that they could interbreed, but they don't do so, either for cultural differences (e.g. grouses with different mating dances), geographical distance, or some other reason. Morphological differences -- as in the Hemingway thumbs -- can also be an indicator of species differences.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-26 05:23 am (UTC)...incidentally, if extra thumbs pose such an advantage why have no humans (or other primates) evolved a 'mirror thumb' opposite the regular one? (I.e. six fingers?) I've heard of individual cases, but not of it being passed down as an inheritable trait...
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-26 06:46 am (UTC)Also, some people use a prosthetic extra thumb called a shucking peg. They come in many styles and can be worn in different directions, sometimes close to the thumb or on the palm, but other people like them pointed them other way.
Well ...
Date: 2021-07-26 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 10:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-25 11:34 pm (UTC)Heck, throw in raccoons. There you have an adaptable omnivore with hands.
Or octopuses who are scary intelligent and adaptable right now. If they manage to get past the "I lay eggs and die" stage of existence they could really build something amazing. that would let them actually learn from their elders instead of figuring it out each generation.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-26 01:12 am (UTC)Cephalopods could learn from their elders (assuming not all members of a species reproduce-die at the same time); they just wouldn't be learning from their parents/ancestors.
For a scifi example, see the Yeerks from Anomorphs.
For nonscifi, look for any reasonably intelligent creature living in groups not based on blood-ties that have non-synchronised reproduction. (Eliminating the die-to-reproduce bit many human subcultures might fit: Shakers, monasteries, mentorships, heart-kin, street families...)
Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-26 05:49 am (UTC)They also teach hatchlings to recognize humans as allies or enemies.
>> (Eliminating the die-to-reproduce bit many human subcultures might fit: Shakers, monasteries, mentorships, heart-kin, street families...) <<
Unlike here, Terramagne kept a lot more of that and even developed it further. The Shakers in particular provide a place for acespec people to go, and once the Shakers recognized that part of the populace and reached out to them, their communities began to grow more vigorously. Some aces really appreciate living in a tight-knit community where they don't get pestered for sex.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-26 06:20 am (UTC)Elephant cultures reflect this too.
>>Some aces really appreciate living in a tight-knit community where they don't get pestered for sex.<<
I'm sure there are other folks who would like to not be pestered as well, and thereby find this setup congenial.
Furthermore, if the Shakers wanted to reinvent the whole religious hospitality thing (monasteries were used as inns in the Dark Ages) that could be rather interesting.
Certainly, having a controlled tourism thing would be preferable to having an endless stream of guests coming by for dinner and a dance show, or the fair-weather converts who join up in lean times but leave when things get better.
Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-26 01:39 am (UTC)They use cars as nutcrackers. :D
>> but they also appear to examine dead members of their species to see what killed them. <<
I hadn't heard that one. Fascinating.
>> Heck, throw in raccoons. There you have an adaptable omnivore with hands. <<
Agreed. I haven't much in the way of social activity from them, but they are clever and have hands.
>> Or octopuses who are scary intelligent and adaptable right now. If they manage to get past the "I lay eggs and die" stage of existence they could really build something amazing. that would let them actually learn from their elders instead of figuring it out each generation.<<
Yeah, that's a big hurdle.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-26 01:49 am (UTC)I've watched a few programs on raccoons which show them ignoring cats, other raccoons, and/or skunks while sharing food sources. They also might have a social structure we just haven't seen because of the changes between city and country raccoons.
After all it wasn't that long ago that we found out that female cougars have social interactions with male cougars at kills and in other areas.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-26 07:23 am (UTC)Keep in mind, sociability is affected by things like food supply (i.e. cat colonies), environmental stressors (prey traveling in dense groups or widely scattered groups) and even availible technology (modern cities can be credited to indoor plumbing, steel, modern transportation networks and the agricultural surplus, all of which relate to human-made technology).
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-07-27 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-26 05:35 am (UTC)>>Helpfully, both cockatoos and macaques have some tolerance for human spaces, which would assist them in surviving a post-human world. <<
Just noting that humans and our technology are a confounding variable in all this. (Your presence affects the results.)
Also, I think it might be possible for different species to leapfrog off each other's tech , much as smart people enjoy bouncing around interesting ideas, thereby often generating new ones.
A lot of human tech is brand new in a historical timescale, and humans interact frequently with other...sapiens? proto-sapients? Essentially it is the intellectual version of a liminal zone, tossing up ne ideas [resources], and correspondingly rich in 'life' [ideas].
>>What marks the potential for advancement is the repetition of genii and the ability of those around them to copy and modify their inventions.<<
Hmm...I wonder if theres evidence for that in the fossil record, for different hominids? Didn't Neanderthals have a big rennesance right before they vanished?
>>That almost never happens. Gosh, I don't think I've seen seen the beginning of it before, although I know it can happen.<<
Arguably, mammals are the re-emergence of therapsids...
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-26 06:23 am (UTC)https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7aV3Q-bA5M
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o95MFVvwpAw
Wow!
Date: 2021-07-26 06:56 am (UTC)I also love sea bunnies.
Re: Wow!
Date: 2021-07-26 07:20 am (UTC)https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bPlmE__5trY