Meet Betty, the tool-making New Caledonia crow, at Oxford.

The Oxford group who first identified the tool-making ability of Betty the Crow, in 2002, has created a website concerning its studies of crows.

You will be able to see many of the behavioral experiments, and a picture of Betty the Crow’s various attempts at creating her wire tool.

A blogger has put an amusing spin on these efforts, by describing the part played by Betty’s lab-mate, Alex, who is the larger of the two:

Betty’s ability was first noticed after the pair were shown a clear tube that had a small bucket with food at the bottom. The bucket had a handle, and they were given a hooked wire and also a straight one, then observed to see if their choices for solving the puzzle were based on intelligent choice. Betty chose the hooked wire, and after Abel That Big Doodyhead took the hooked wire from Betty, she adapted by making her own by bending the straight wire. She repeated this skill 9 out of 10 times.

You will find a bit more of this lighthearted treatment of Betty’s and Abel’s interaction here.

The Oxford blog, by the Behavioural Ecology Research Group, University of Oxford, provides more details and video links to the behavioral testing done in the lab.

Click next page to see a link to the Oxford website, and also learn how the Oxford blog assists researches who want to perform field work, using their miniature camera.