Zoology: Birds that Throw Stones

Time was when only five species of vertebrates were known to use tools.

There was man, of course. Chimpanzees used rocks to break open hard-shelled food, sticks to feed on termites and ants, and leaves for wiping their bodies and drinking. A gorilla had been seen pulling fruit to within its grasp by means of a crooked branch. The sea otter used rocks for opening shellfish. And Galapagos woodpecker finches probed insects from holes with short twigs.

Comes now the Egyptian vulture.

Traveling in Tanzania on a National Geographic Society photographic expedition, Zoologist Jane Goodall and her photographer husband Hugo van Lawick...

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