A captive dingo has been caught on camera moving a table to use it as a step stool to reach a tasty morsel. It is a rare example of an animal solving a complex problem, though strictly speaking it is not true tool use.
Bradley Smith of the Australian Dingo Foundation and colleagues observed dingoes at the in Toolern Vale, Victoria.
In 2008 a male dingo called Sterling was trying to reach a food item dangling from the ceiling of his enclosure. It was too high to jump, so he dragged a table across the enclosure and then stood on it, allowing him to reach the food (see video, above). Smith has just described Sterling鈥檚 drag act in the scientific literature.
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On another occasion he moved a plastic kennel to a different place in the enclosure and then sat on top of it. Sitting on the kennel gave him a better view of neighbouring cages.
鈥淎t some point, he has made the connection between the position of the table and the object of desire or goal, such that he uses the table as a means to an end,鈥� Smith says. 鈥淚n this way, the table is a tool.鈥�
However impressive it may be, Sterling鈥檚 behaviour isn鈥檛 really tool use, says of the University of Oxford. The , set out in 1980 by comparative psychologist , requires the animal to be holding the tool when it carries out the task. Moving a table and then standing on it doesn鈥檛 count.
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