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Enhancing Public Appreciation of Urban Wildlife through Behavioral Studies at the Cognitive Crow Exhibit, Binghamton Zoo.Clara Davie & Anne B. ClarkBiology Department, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York

Public EducationHow do crows find the food that they hide? Do crows use landmarks to locate caches?Formal study- crows chose to use reliable landmarks to find caches. They stopped using landmarks that were moved by researchers.

FormalSchool trips & zoo labsInformalSigns, Games, Crow bars & cards,Be a zoo researcher!Virtual labs via exhibit webcamsVirtual & physical tripsIn class follow up

Retrospective Pretest StudyMeasures zoo visitors attitudes toward and knowledge of crows before & after visiting the zoo.Personal Meaning Mapping StudyMeasures how much visitors are learning from educational signs based on their specific knowledge level when they enter the zoo.

Exhibit crow, TJ.Assessment:Visitor SurveysWhere do crows hide their food?Where other crows cannot see them?Formal study showed that dominant crows often hide food in view of their cage mates.Crows for Public Education? Yes, they easily capture our interest because: Familiar urban birds Complex social lives- like people!Very, very smart!

New Study lets zoo visitors participate by recording where the crows cache.

Binghamton Urban Ecosystem Initiative1