Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Poem: "The Superfluity of Thumbs"

This is the freebie for today's Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] capriuni.  It also fills the "kittens and puppies" square in my 6-10-15 card for the [community profile] genprompt_bingo fest.


"The Superfluity of Thumbs"


For a long time, scientists thought
that tool use was exclusive to humanity
and required opposable thumbs.

Then they started to realize that
some animals could use tools
even if they hadn't invented them,
like kittens trained to use a toilet
instead of a litterbox.

Some wild animals turned out
to use tools as well, such as
octopodes carrying seashells
or coconut shells for shelter.

Others used them for fun,
like birds snowboarding
down a roof on a plastic lid.

Tool use, is seems, is not
limited by physique or species,
only by ingenuity.

* * *

Animal tool use has taken time to discover.  Domesticated animals can be trained to use tools, such as toilet-training a cat. In the wild, octopodes use coconuts and seashells for shelter, and birds use plastic lids as snowboards.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, humor, nature, poem, reading, science, weblit, wildlife, writing
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  • 13 comments
technoshaman

technoshaman

January 5 2016, 22:51:38 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  January 5 2016, 22:54:18 UTC

*nods* Otters using rocks on shellfish, monkeys using sticks down an anthole to grab ants.... and whales using humans to get unstuck from nets laid down by other (stupid and/or careless) humans....
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

January 5 2016, 23:07:04 UTC 5 years ago

The diversity of tool use in the animal kingdom is high. :D
technoshaman

Re: Yes...

technoshaman

January 5 2016, 23:08:53 UTC 5 years ago

*sarcasm* I dunno, in America the tool users - and the tools - mostly seem to be white male.... */sarcasm*

Was that my out loud voice?
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

January 5 2016, 23:13:13 UTC 5 years ago

Depends on your use of tools. Women have more experience in household tools for cooking and crafts, on average. Lower-class people pretty much have to know how to do everything for themselves. Rich people can afford to be non-tool-users.
siliconshaman

Re: Yes...

siliconshaman

January 6 2016, 00:34:38 UTC 5 years ago

Poor people use tools. Rich people use poor people.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

January 6 2016, 01:36:40 UTC 5 years ago

>_< Painfully true.
siliconshaman

siliconshaman

January 6 2016, 00:33:32 UTC 5 years ago

Dolphins use sponges to protect their noses when grubbing in sand for skates and rays. I've also seen squirrels use pedestrian crossings to open nuts, they press the button, wait for the traffic to stop, put the nut on the road, wait until the lights turn green, and press the button again. A car makes a pretty good nut cracker. Mind, I think we might have an unusual bunch of squirrels around here, as I have personally seen them use glass shards as weapons to fend off predators.

ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

January 6 2016, 01:35:26 UTC 5 years ago

>> Dolphins use sponges to protect their noses when grubbing in sand for skates and rays.<<

That one I've seen.

>> I've also seen squirrels use pedestrian crossings to open nuts, they press the button, wait for the traffic to stop, put the nut on the road, wait until the lights turn green, and press the button again. A car makes a pretty good nut cracker. <<

The video of this behavior that I saw was featuring crows.

>>Mind, I think we might have an unusual bunch of squirrels around here, as I have personally seen them use glass shards as weapons to fend off predators.<<

O_O That I have not seen.
thnidu

thnidu

January 6 2016, 00:43:40 UTC 5 years ago

WOW!
ysabetwordsmith

Thank you!

ysabetwordsmith

January 6 2016, 01:37:10 UTC 5 years ago

I'm glad you enjoyed this.
rhodielady_47

rhodielady_47

January 6 2016, 01:42:10 UTC 5 years ago

I'd already seen the octopi carrying shells and coconuts to use as shelter but the crow snowboarding is completely new to me!
8^)
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

January 6 2016, 01:45:44 UTC 5 years ago

I keep an eye out for these things. The octopus with the seashells was new to me.
fayanora

fayanora

January 7 2016, 01:39:31 UTC 5 years ago

Yup yup. And given that birds can make complex nests just using their beaks, I wouldn't be surprised if they could do more than that.

I have a sentient species in my main fantasy universe, who are sentient ravens. Just looking like ordinary ravens, they use their beaks to make tools and stuff, even cooperating with one another to make things that require more than one beak. I haven't worked out their level of tech yet, but it should be fun to do so. :-)

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