The Tool-Using Tusk Fish
In The Tool-Using Tusk Fish, narrator Sir David Attenborough suggests that tusk fish, and perhaps other fish species, may be more intelligent than people ever thought possible. When the tusk fish finds food, such as a clam, it uses coral as a tool to crack open the clam and feed itself. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
Lesson Express
Q: Why does the tusk fish go all the way to the edge of the reef every morning?
A: The tusk fish is seeking something special to eat in the coral.
Q: What does the tusk fish do to find the food it’s looking for in the coral?
A: The tusk fish pushes coral aside or turns it over to look underneath, churning up the sand and surface beneath the coral to locate the food.
Q: Why does the tusk fish carry the clam all the way back home?
A: The tusk fish brings the clam to a special rounded coral and uses a small part of the coral to break open the clam for eating, so the coral becomes a tool!
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