14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time ever, researchers have managed to demonstrate that the freshwater stingray is able to use tools in tests requiring problem-solving abilities, when the need arises. The sea creatures are able to employ the help of the body of water they are swimming through, in order to obtain a hidden meal concealed inside a metal pipe, in which they are too big to fit. The cunning solution to this problem raises numerous questions about the actual mental abilities of animals such as this one, the BBC News reports.
In the new investigation, the stingray was able to produce jets of water with its body, which pushed the food out of the pipe. With this type of ability proven, researchers say, the stingrays should no longer be considered just simple reflex animals. The team believes that the mental abilities these creatures are capable of can easily rival those of birds, reptiles and mammals. The research group behind this amazing investigation features members from the United States, Israel and Austria. The full details of their findings are published in the latest issue of the respected journal Animal Cognition.
The stingrays were also shown to be able to distinguish between the black and white ends of a test tube. In this setup, one of the ends was covered, while the other was left open, and food was placed inside. The researchers note that the creature positioned its body in such a manner that its motions managed to drag the food all the way out of the tube and into its mouth. Additionally, one of the team members also caught on tape another never-before-seen behavior, when the creature used water jets to dislodge food on the surface of its water tank. Its meal had become trapped between some floating leaves.
"Firstly, they are bigger and more difficult to study than other model animals such as zebra fish, guppies or mice. Second, they, like sharks, have often been considered to be reflex machines having very acute senses but limited cognitive capacities. What our study shows is that stingrays are capable of problem solving. They are members of one of the oldest lines of vertebrates and to know more about their abilities will help us to learn more about the evolution of cognition in vertebrates," Hebrew University of Jerusalem expert Dr. Michael Kuba, who has been an active part of the study, says.