Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Woodpecker Finch of the Galapagos Islands

I just learned what Charles Darwin learned 150 years ago: there is a Woodpecker Finch indigenous to the Galapagos Islands that is off the hook! His tongue is too short to reach grubs inside tree branches, so what does he do?
He breaks off a tiny twig, holds it in his beak, and pokes around under the tree bark until some grubs come up.

That's right-- the bird makes tools! A veritable ornithological MacGuyver!

Finally! Now the Woodpecker Finch can be the lock-picker on a motley crew of international jewel thieves, all he needs is a squirrel who's good with explosives, a monkey on roller skates and George Clooney.

1 comment:

tla said...

ok, after i read the Clooney comment ("clooney" being a kind of onomonpiea in that last phrase, if you will), i laughed so hard that iced tea sprayed out my nose. i'm not sure why i'm telling you this. it's rather embarrassing. i'm gonna go now. peace.