A: Probably not. But it *is* likely that you'll learn a lot about
animal behavior, improve your making skills, and have loads of fun.
You've been warned!
Q: Is this the same design Josh used to originally train crows?
A: Nope; it's a new and improved version created to be easy to build
and use. The original design was trail-and-error'd into place by Josh
Klein with electronics design by Zach Eveland of BlackLabel
Development.
Q: How certain are you that the process will work with wild crows?
A: Not certain at all! Or rather, the *process* should work, but how
many times each stage needs to run for a particular group of crows to
get it is completely up in the air. That's why we need your help - to
figure this part out!!
Q: How was the crowbox invented?
A: Josh Klein came up with it as his thesis project at ITP. He successfully tested it with captive crows in Brooklyn, and verified that wild crows were comfortable with the box (as demonstrated by them swarming all over it) in Binghamton. The next step is to get a bunch of different people in different places experimenting with the box to try to find the optimum way to train wild crows.
Q: What's left to be discovered?
A: Lots!! How do crows learn from other crows - from parents, siblings, peers, or enemies? How different are the learning habits of crows from different areas? Do families learn faster than individuals? Do groups of young, unpaired crows learn faster than families? How many peanuts will a single crow be motivated by in any given period? Do crows learn faster/slower at different times of year? Closer/farther from human habitats? The questions are endless, and it's our hope that the crowbox will help us to start finding some answers.
Q: Can I use the crowbox to train bears to stack firewood for me?
A: Absolutely no idea, but the designs are open-sourced and creative commons licensed, so you're free to make whatever changes you like to give it a try - just don't hurt the bears. It might be good to start with squirrels or raccoons first, however.
Q: Where can I get help with...
A: Glad you asked. Check out the forums and jump in!