PCI Ecology

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Title *

Evidence of tool use in a seabird?use asterix (*) to get italics

Authors *

Benjamin G. FarrarPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"

Year *

2020

Picture *

Abstract *

Fayet, Hansen and Biro (1) provide two observations of Atlantic puffins, *Fratercula arctica*, performing self-directed actions while holding a stick in their beaks. The authors interpret this as evidence of tool use as they suggest that the stick was manipulated towards the birds’ plumage with the specific goal of scratching. While these are interesting observations, the authors do not address a simple and likely explanation of the self-directed actions that does not constitute tool use; that the observations occurred by chance. As such, their conclusions about tool use and cognition in seabirds are premature.

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Keywords (optional)

Animal Behaviour Animal Cognition Evidence Tool Use

Methods that require specific expertise (optional)

NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).

Thematic fields *

Behaviour & Ethology

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Submission date

2020-01-22 11:55:27

Recommender

Francois-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont

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Direct submissions to PCI Ecology from bioRxiv.org are possible using the B2J service

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