Tool-use and cognition in Darwins´s finches

• Applicant: Dr. Sabine Tebbich
• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology
• Term: from 2007 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 34405261

Recent research has revealed that several bird species rival primates in tool manufacture, mental time travel and social cognition although they do not have comparable brain structures. This indicates that cognition has evolved independently in primates and birds. My interest is to study the environmental conditions that select for these extraordinary abilities in birds and whether selection has favoured an increase in general learning abilities and/or specific cognitive mechanisms. The study system I chose are the Darwin's finches, a group of 15 species that live on the Galapagos Islands. Environmental conditions on the Galapagos Islands are harsh and unpredictable. In order to survive there, these birds utilise unusual resources and have developed extraordinary behaviours to exploit them. The most famous example is the woodpecker finch, which uses sticks to pry insects out of crevices. The ability to use tools has been thought to require complex cognition and children at the age of three already possess some knowledge of the underlying causal mechanisms. The discovery of tool-use in animals has raised the question of whether they show similar understanding. I want to investigate whether tool-use in the woodpecker finch also involves complex cognition by testing this species in two physical tasks that involve the use of tools. On evolutionary level I want to investigate whether enhanced cognitive abilities are an adaptation for tool-use, (i.e. evolved in conjunction with tool-use) as opposed to having evolved in another context (preceding the evolution of tool-use). I will explore this question using a comparative approach between the woodpecker finch and two closely related non-tool-using species namely the small tree finch and large tree finch. I will test all three species on two tasks involving the use of tools, a general physical task and a general learning task.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants