[LINK] "Grizzly bears can use tools, study shows"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC shares an article by the Associated Press' Shannon Quinn about the latest animal species that, on closer examination, turns out to have high intelligence: bears. It does make sense, in that bears like humans are fairly flexible omnivores. Surely both species would need a similar kind of intelligence.

It may no longer be good enough to hang your food in a tree to keep it away from bears when you go camping, according to a first-of-its-kind study at the Washington State University Bear Research Education and Conservation Center.

Some — but not all — grizzlies can use primitive tools to thwart your efforts, veterinary student Alex Waroff found this summer in an experiment assisted by Charlie Robbins, WSU bear centre director, and O. Lynne Nelson, assistant director and professor of cardiology at WSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Nelson said the idea for the study came from a report in a peer-reviewed journal of "first tool use" by a brown bear in Alaska.

"The bear was observed to pick up a rock or shell and use it to scratch his face," Nelson said. "Those of us who work with bears read the report and essentially said, 'Really? Is that the best you have?' "Nelson said the idea for the study came from a report in a peer-reviewed journal of "first tool use" by a brown bear in Alaska.

Nelson said she, and others who work with bears, see evidence of bears manipulating objects for a specific goal all the time — the definition of tool use.

"Of course, all of these observations are anecdote," she said. "So we decided to put this problem-solving skill to standardized research protocol."