Movies

• Oak tool manufacture (Quicktime, 2.7 MB/WMV, 5.9 MB). This movie shows Betty making a tool from a branch of oak (Quercus robur). This clip was supplied as supplementary information for Chappell & Kacelnik 2004 (see the Cognition page for more detail).
• Wire-bending: first bend (QuickTime, 1.3 MB/WMV, 4.7 MB). This is a clip from trial 5 of the choice experiment, in which the birds were presented with a straight and a hooked piece of wire. The clip starts after the male (Abel) has removed the hooked wire, leaving only the straight one for the female (Betty) to manipulate. At the start of the clip, Betty already has the (straight) wire in her beak, but has not yet attempted to use it or bend it. Note that this is only their 5th experience with wire or any pliant material, and also the first time we saw any sort of bending behaviour. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Wire-bending: trial 7 (QuickTime, 5 MB/WMV, 5.7 MB). This is the clip supplied as supplementary information for the Weir, Chappell, & Kacelnik paper (see above). This is trial 7 of the experiment in which the crows were presented with a straight piece of wire only. At the beginning of the clip, Betty is already holding the straight wire in her beak, as she picked it up at the start of the trial but was immediately displaced by the male. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Wire-bending: trial 13 (QuickTime, 1 MB/WMV, 5.4 MB). This is a clip from the straight-wire experiment (as above). In this clip, Betty does not attempt to use the straight wire, but immediately carries it off to a perch elsewhere in the experimental room, and appears to bend it by holding the wire in her feet and manipulating the end using her beak (the camera's view is slightly obscured). See the Cognition page for more details.
• Aluminium-bending: first trial (WMV, 5.6 MB). This was provided as Movie S5 to Weir & Kacelnik (2006). It shows the first valid trial where Betty was presented with a strip of aluminium to bend. She spends a long time attempting to get the bucket without modifying the strip, but eventually twists it into a distorted shape which she uses to get the bucket. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Aluminium-bending: trial 32 (WMV, 1.8 MB). This was provided as Movie S6 to Weir & Kacelnik (2006). This shows an example of the 'bend' technique Betty developed for modifying aluminium strips, towards the end of the experiment. Note that she turns the tool around before using it. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Unbending aluminium: trial 3 (WMV, 1.7 MB). This was provided as Movie S7 to Weir & Kacelnik (2006). This shows the first time Betty unbent the aluminium strip. After food-retrieval, the unbending action is replayed in slow-motion. The clip starts 4min 7s into the trial, after Betty had already probed with the tool 4 times (for a total of 16s), but before she had modified it. After modification, there is a break in the clip during which she probed for the food 4 times (for 50s), twice with each end of the tool. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Unbending aluminium: trial 4 (WMV, 1.9 MB). This was provided as Movie S8 to Weir & Kacelnik (2006). On this trial Betty unbent the tool using a similar action to Trial 3. As with Video S7, the clip ends with a replay of the unbending action in slow-motion. The clip starts 3min 15s into the trial, after Betty had already probed with the tool 7 times (for 37s), but before she had modified it. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Ontogeny: demonstration (MP4, 1.5 MB/WMV, 1.9 MB). This illustrates the human foster parent (BK) demonstrating food-retrieval with a twig tool to an immature female hand-raised New Caledonian crow ("Uék", then aged 98 days). Note that Uék holds on to the end of the stick that the demonstrator is using, and that after eating the food she picks up and manipulates the twig (which is still inserted in the hole). See the Development page for more details.
• Ontogeny: using stick tool (MP4, 3 MB/WMV, 5.8MB). This shows the second occasion "Oiseau" (one of the untutored juveniles, then aged 65 days) was observed to retrieve food from a crevice with a tool. Although twigs were provided next to the crevices, he carried a stick there from the ground. Note that the tail and the plumage around the eyes are not fully grown, and that he rather clumsily falls off the platform after retrieving the food, indicating he was still morphologically and behaviourally immature. See the Development page for more details.
• Ontogeny: making and using Pandanus tool (MP4, 1.6 MB/WMV, 3.8MB). This footage shows Corbeau (then aged 99 days) cutting out a pandanus tool with a "cut-tear-cut" action, and then transporting it to a platform containing several crevices, where food is normally provided. He probes a crevice, although on this occasion there was no food present. Beforehand, he probes some of the cracks between the pandanus support frame and the perches. See the Development page for more details.
• Ontogeny: using Pandanus tool (Quicktime, 1.9 MB/WMV, 3.9 MB). This shows Corbeau (then aged 101 days) bringing a pandanus tool to the crevice platform, probing first one, which is empty, and then a second, from which he obtains food. Note that this tool is roughly shaped compared to those made by adult wild crows. See the Development page for more details.
• Ontogeny: making Pandanus tool (Quicktime, 2.5 MB/WMV, 2.8 MB). This shows a close up of Corbeau (then aged 126 days) cutting into the edge of a pandanus leaf and tearing a piece off. On this occasion, the piece breaks off at the far end due to previous damage to the leaf, and there is no need for Corbeau to make a second cut himself. He then carries the piece to the crevices, but does not probe. Before he makes this piece, he breaks off a much smaller piece which he immediately drops. Note that he is semi-bald because of natural head moult. See the Development page for more details.
• Laterality (Quicktime, 0.7 MB/WMV, 1.7 MB). This movie shows an adult male, "YY", using a tool left-laterally. Note how he adjusts his grip on the tool during the trial, presumably to increase precision. See the Laterality page for more details.
• Selectivity (Quicktime, 0.3 MB/[not available as WMV]). This movie shows Betty choosing a tool from a number of different length tools which were provided. It was recorded after the experiment described in Chappell & Kacelnik (2002): in the experiment, the first tool inserted in the pipe was recorded as the bird's choice. See the Cognition page for more details.
• Crowcam Movie S1 (Quicktime high resolution, 96 MB/ Quicktime low resolution, 13 MB/[not available as WMV].) This is a selection of clips from video cameras ('crowcams') attached to several wild crows. See Crow Cams for more information.
• Crowcam Movie S2 (Quicktime, 26 MB/[not available as WMV].) This is a selection of clips from a 'crowcam' attached to crow 'CC1'. See Crow Cams for more information.
• Crowcam Movie S3 (Quicktime, 30 MB/[not available as WMV].) This is a selection of clips from a 'crowcam' attached to crow 'EK1'. See Crow Cams for more information.
• Crowcam Movie S4 (Quicktime, 6.4 MB/[not available as WMV].) This is a selection of clips from a 'crowcam' attached to crow 'HK5'. See Crow Cams for more information.
• Crowcam schematic (WMV, 8.3 MB/[not available as MOV.] This is an animated, guided tour of a 'crowcam' unit, showing details of on-bird mounting and unit construction. See Crow Cams for more information.

Note that these movies are copyright of the authors, and may not be broadcast or otherwise published without permission. Further information about our research can be found here.

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