Biologists Observe Geese Eating Tool

NEW HAVEN, CT—Calling the previously undocumented behavior one of the most exciting scientific discoveries of the decade, biologists from Yale University confirmed Tuesday that they had observed geese eating tools. “We normally don’t think of birds as tool eaters, so it came as quite a shock to witness multiple Canada geese from a flock in coastal Connecticut swallowing these remarkably sophisticated implements,” said Professor Sarah Rasmussen, adding that some of the tools the geese had consumed actually exceeded what a human third-grader would be able to eat. “It appears that once a goose learns to eat tools, it then teaches that behavior to subsequent generations of offspring. We’ve seen tool-eating spread to other flocks that these geese have encountered, too, and with almost no learning curve. Geese that have never so much as eaten a small stick are suddenly chowing down on a more complex apparatus—like a clothespin or a screwdriver—in a matter of days. It’s truly remarkable.” Adding that the adaptational benefits of this phenomenon would only become clear with further research, Rasmussen hypothesized that eating tools might help geese more efficiently choke to death. 

The post Biologists Observe Geese Eating Tool appeared first on The Onion.