Clever Crows Pick up Cigarette Butts in Sweden in Exchange for Rewards

As part of a cost-cutting initiative, crows are being hired to pick up abandoned cigarette butts from the streets and squares of a Swedish city.

The duty is carried out by wild birds who are rewarded with a bit of food for each butt they drop in a bespoke machine created by a business in Södertälje, near Stockholm. "They are wild birds participating voluntarily," said Christian Günther-Hanssen, the method's creator, in a report in Daily Mail.

According to the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, about 1 billion cigarette butts are discarded on Swedish streets each year, accounting for 62 percent of trash. Södertälje spends 20 million Swedish kronor (£1.6 million) cleaning the streets.

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Efficiency

(Photo : Photo by Tyler Quiring on Unsplash)

According to Günther-Hanssen, his solution might save at least 75% of the expenditures of collecting cigarette butts throughout the city.

Given the sort of garbage involved, Södertälje is conducting a pilot experiment before potentially expanding the operation throughout the city, with the birds' health being the most crucial factor.

According to studies, New Caledonian crows, who belong to the corvid family of birds, are as excellent at thinking like a human seven-year-old, making them the sharpest birds for the job.

"They're simpler to educate, and there's a better likelihood they'll learn from each other," Günther-Hanssen added. At the same time, there's less chance that they'll ingest any garbage by accident.

The cost of collecting cigarette butts is estimated to be roughly 80 öre [Swedish change] or more per cigarette butt, with some estimates as high as two kronor. If the birds pick up cigarette butts, the cost per cigarette butt might be as much as 20 öre. The town's money saved is determined by how many cigarette butts the crows collect.

Crows' Intelligence

(Photo : Andrea Townsend)

A team led by Andreas Nieder of the University of Tübingen in Germany released intriguing research in the journal Science, showing that crows, previously recognized to be among the most intelligent creatures, are much more astounding than we thought. The data implies that they are aware of themselves and, in some ways, conscious.

Crows, ravens, jays, and magpies are members of the corvid family of birds, who have been recorded using tools, remembering the faces of individuals they like or don't like, and dropping nuts on the road for passing automobiles to break open. I once saw a couple of birds working together at a water fountain in a train station. One sipped from the flowing water as the other pushed the button with its beak.

Crows, ravens, jays, and magpies are members of the corvid family of birds, who have been recorded using tools, remembering the faces of individuals they like or don't like, and dropping nuts on the road for passing automobiles to break open. I once saw a couple of birds working together at a water fountain in a train station. One sipped from the flowing water as the other pushed the button with its beak.

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