Intelligence is not an attribute bestowed on the humans alone. Animals too have a mind of their own and use it to find food and protect themselves, writes Atula Gupta

‘Kaalia’ the crow might have outsmarted the crafty crocodile, ‘Doob-doob’ innumerable times in the comic world, but in the real world, it seems like the crocodile might easily outwit the bird. Scientists have discovered that reptiles like the Indian Magar Crocodile and the American Alligator use tools, specifically sticks to lure birds into their trap.

What this latest discovery affirms is the fact that intelligent use of tools is not restricted to humans or primates alone but it is a characteristic of all the brainy species regardless of their shape and form.

Tool use in the animal world has always garnered interest of scientists and laymen. Some look at it as an additional proof of the falsity of the claim that humans are the most intelligent living forms in the world, while others marvel at how little we still know of our planet and the species that live with us.

From chimps to dolphins, elephants to kea birds, octopuses to rodents, today there is no dearth of examples of land, water or air animals that use tools dexterously to ease their work at hand and more commonly, to obtain food.

Bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, carry marine sponges in their beaks to stir ocean-bottom sand and uncover prey, spending more time hunting with tools than any animal besides humans. Chimps are able to chisel spears to hunt other primates for meat.

Crows are extraordinarily adept at crafting twigs, leaves and sometimes their own feathers into tools. Anecdotes suggest elephants, the most intelligent animals in the world, can intentionally drop logs or rocks on electric fences to short them out and plug up water holes with balls of chewed bark to keep other animals from drinking them.
Octopuses can use coconut shells as armour and carry heaps of these shells upon their head for later use.

But what is the purpose of a stick balanced on a crocodile’s snout? It is this puzzle that researchers solved and were surprised to find that it was a lure of a reptile that cannot fly, to catch a prey that could.

Bird bait

Magar crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) in India and American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in the USA have often  been observed to have sticks or twigs on top of their snouts.

The scientists found that rather than being an accidental occurrence, this was a deliberate ploy of the crocs. They put sticks on their snouts and remained submerged in water near egret and heron colonies. When the nest building birds, spotted the sticks and approached them unaware of the dangers lurking under water, the crocodile found the chance to grab its prey.

What the researchers also observed was that the crocodiles’ behaviour was not random but coincided with the nesting and breeding season of the egrets and herons usually in the month of March and April.

It was also observed in animals that lived near rookeries.
Therefore, the reptiles displayed intelligence in specifically choosing an object that could help them achieve a goal and that too at a precise time when they knew their prey would need the sticks for creating nests.

The researchers add that the behaviour becomes all the more interesting because floating sticks are extremely rare in the pools, especially at the time of year concerned. This is because the local trees – baldcypresses and water tupelos – don’t shed twigs, and also because the nesting birds rapidly remove floating sticks for nest-building. Thus, what the crocs are displaying is a purposeful act, where they are deliberately looking for the sticks, and using them to target preys.

This kind of behaviour displayed by the reptiles is called as baiting behaviour and has also been observed in Green herons (Butorides virescens) and other species of birds and animals. The herons use feathers, twigs and even berries and bits of bread to attract fish.

The study authors are sure that because the baiting behaviour has been observed in two crocodiles species separated by continents, it can be presumed that the behaviour is probably widespread and common among the animals.

Measuring intelligence

Animal intelligence is often underrated by us, firmly adhering to the theories of evolution that regard humans as a complex living form, with a more developed brain and thus more intelligence. However, there are many scientists that are questioning this viewpoint.

According to Maciej Henneberg, a professor of anthropological and comparative anatomy, humans have misunderstood animal intelligence.”Animals offer different kinds of intelligences which have been under-rated due to humans’ fixation on language and technology. These include social and kinaesthetic intelligence.

Some mammals, like gibbons, can produce a large number of varied sounds – over 20 different sounds with clearly different meanings that allow these arboreal primates to communicate across tropical forest canopy. The fact that they do not build houses is irrelevant to the gibbons,” Henneberg added.

Even in crocodiles, apart from the recent revelation of use of tools, the sly use of neighbours to protect the young has been often observed. Nile crocodile mothers have been known to protect their eggs from numerous thieves, such as the giant Nile monitor, by enlisting the aid of nesting curlews known as thick-knees – that share the same marshy habitat.

Perfectly camouflaged nesting curlews intimidate marauding Nile monitors in turn enjoy the crocodiles’ protection from hippopotamus and other visitors.

If intelligence is not about technological wizardry but the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, the crocodile, the octopus or the human are all definitely in the same league.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 24 February, 2014

Link: Smart Beings

Image by Dave Boardman from Pixabay

The Asiatic Lion has doubled its territory in Gujarat with one-third of Saurashtra under its reign. While the news is promising for the future of lions, it highlights the concern that they roam outside the protected area, leading to human-animal conflict. Atula Gupta writes…

When the Asiatic Lion truly lived the life of royalty, its territory ranged from Asia minor and Arabia through Persia to India. However, before the close of the last century, the lion had become extinct from all these regions except Gir, where thanks to the efforts of a Nawab, its faltering future was stabilised and the Indian lion had a single yet safe haven to call home. 

Today, the population of India’s lions is stable, if not completely out of danger, because of consistent conservation efforts and a recent census points that the lion king is on the lookout for newer regions to conquer. With almost double the territory recorded of the wild cat within a span of four years, the species is set for a fierce expansion plan. But, while the news is promising for the future of lions, does it also bring forth a number of other concerns, especially a rise in human-animal conflict? That is the big question. 

The pride of Gujarat has doubled its territory in the span of four years from 10,500 sq km in 2010 to 20,000 sq km recorded recently. The state forest department conducted a study based on the frequent kills and compensation given to farmers and found that the presence of the predator was noted in almost one-third of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Of the 1,500 villages that notified the lion’s presence, most were in the Junagadh, Amreli and few in Bhavnagar district. 

The last few

When Sasan Gir forests of Gujarat became the last bastion of the Asiatic lions, the species literally had nowhere else to go. Once a symbol of regal valour and ferocity, the lion symbol had adorned the palaces of many Indian kingdoms, sultanates and empires for ages. In fact, the earliest record of lions in India, it seems, are found on the famous steatite seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation. 

But hunting during the British reign turned many living beasts to trophy heads adorning colonial walls, and by the end of the 19th century, India shockingly had merely 20-odd lions. The probable years of its extermination region-wise were Bihar – 1840, Delhi – 1834, Bhavalpur – 1842, Eastern Vindhyas and Bundelkhand – 1865, Central India & Rajasthan – 1870 and Western Aravallis – 1880. The last animal surviving in the wild outside Saurashtra was reported in 1884. Statistics

It was thus a pivotal moment when the then Nawab of Junagadh provided adequate protection to the animals and population of lion increased between the years 1904 to 1911. Lions were still being hunted though until shooting was rigidly controlled by the British Administration in 1913. Finally, in 1936, the first organised census showed there were 287 Asiatic lions left in the wild. Declaration of the Sasan Gir Sanctuary only ensured that these numbers continued to increase.

The present day status of the lions is not as turbulent. In the last decade, through active public support, conservation programmes and constant vigilance, the lions of Gir have fared well. Last census showed their population to be above 400 with a healthy number of adults as well as juveniles. 

Interestingly, even in 2010, the Asiatic lion was expanding its territory, living further away from the restricted 1,412 sq km of the defined Sasan Gir National Park boundaries. The stable population even prompted the International Union for conservation of Nature (IUCN) to de-list the threatened status of Asiatic lions from Critically Endangered to Endangered. However, bigger family means the need for a bigger home and that is what may trigger an array of other concerns.

Officials believe there are 114 lions at present, out of the 411 counted in 2010, that live outside the known lion territories. It is only the upcoming 2015 lion population census though that would ascertain the exact number and expanded habitat of the mega predator. Meanwhile, in a country of 1.2 billion humans, where is the room to grow? Rise in conflict

In mid-January this year, a goods train mowed down two lionesses 30 km from the Gir forest. Last year, a male lion cub was killed on the same route. With more than 100,000 people sharing the same resources and land with the Asiatic Lion, conflicts between the local villagers and the animal is inevitable. Although, public support has been one of the biggest advantages for the successful protection of the wild predator in the state. But, will it continue if territorial conflicts become much more frequent and livestock loss a daily routine? 

Also, unlike the Gir sanctuary, forest officers do not patrol the area outside the protected boundaries, and the present census points that it is exactly these regions where the lion is heading to, and is also the most vulnerable. “There are heavy vehicles, including loaders, moving in the area. I have personally seen lions close to such areas,” said Mangabhai Thapa — a resident of the village who was among the first to reach the lions that were killed by the goods train. 

The areas where lions are frequently seen in Saurashtra are the same where future urban development plans include more mining belts, ports, highways and industries. The need of the hour, undoubtedly, is habitat diversification and second or third population sites for the lions. The Nawab of Junagadh did give the dying lions a second chance at life, but to truly give the animal its lost regal stature, it is necessary now to allow it to peacefully expand its kingdom.

Original Publication: Deccan Herald

Date: 3 February, 2014

Link: A lion’s share