A Pike County WDA Publication

Volume 3, Issue 2

Page 5

Animals

ATTACK OF THE SQUIRREL                                 By: Derek Hinkel

            In Itasca, Illinois there have been reports of a gray squirrel attacking at least four different people. It was finally caught when a man grabbed the squirrel off his wife's shoulder as it bit her. He threw the squirrel into a trap and called the police. The police called animal control that wound up killing the squirrel and sending it to a lab for testing. Incase the squirrel has rabies or other diseases. The squirrel had a bald spot on its tail that has been described by other people it has attacked. This just goes to show you that something as small and friendly as a squirrel can turn violent. at times.   

Smart crows    by: William Traverso

        Birds are smart animals but not all birds are smart. Crows, ravens, and jays known only as corvids are a smart family of birds. They often get food from garbage cans, and can use leaves, twigs, and feathers to catch their food. Crows named Betty and Abel wee able to get meat from a test tube using a wire. They had a choice to get the meat by either using a straight wire or a hooked wire. They both choose the hooked wire.
        But the crow named Abel stole Betty's hooked wire leaving the crow with just a straight wire. Instead of giving up she took the wire and wedged the tip in a crack and bent it with her beak to produce a hook like the one that had been stolen. Then she proceeded to get the food, and to make sure this was not a fluke they tested Betty by giving her a straight wire. Out of nine to ten times Betty made a hook out of the straight wire. They did not try this experiment with Abel because male crows wait until the work is done then they steal the food and eat it themselves.
      A scientist said that perhaps one of the most significant studies is how animals think. This may be a first that animals solve problems, the crow called Betty knew what she was doing. The animal behavior scientists have talked about animals being capable of doing stuff like Betty. The scientists said that Betty could form an image in her mind and create the hooked wire from the straight wire. They are thinking of how these animals could think of stuff that people do and complete it.