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better than half our interns (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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Twitter post from Moonlit Sentences Arizona DOT installed a wildlife camera at Route 87's pedestrian crossing outside Payson last September. Standard deer migration count. After six months, they had footage of zero deer and 147 clips of the same coyote pressing the crosswalk button with its paw at sunrise. The animal waits for the walk signal. Steps into the road. Crosses at a trot. Every single time. Biologists believe it learned by watching hikers at the adjacent trailhead. "It's not random," said the lead researcher. "That coyote understands cause and effect better than half our interns." DOT voted unanimously to keep the camera running. The coyote hasn't jaywalked once.
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[–] 99 points 3 months ago* (7 children)

I have watched the deer in Campbell River walk up the sidewalk single file, wait at a crosswalk for the road to clear, and then cross.

The animals are learning to navigate the new jungle.

But this is definitely AI with those road lines. So a fake story.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 months ago

    The story is fake on its face. It involves so much more than a wild animal waiting until it’s safe to cross the street. A coyote supposedly learned the difference between the crosswalk symbols, understood the connection between the button and the symbols, and learned and bothered to use them. Then, when humans gathered hours of video footage of this miracle, they only showed us a single grainy still image.

    I’m disappointed in some of the comments here (not you - the whole comment section). People need to be more skeptical.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Early morning walking to work, I took a shortcut over a highway. Saw a hare that stopped, looked both ways, and then crossed when the road was clear. It got to the elevated section between the lanes (not sure what this is called in English), stopped, looked both ways, and then continued when the road was clear.

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  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Aren't hares always looking both ways?

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago*

    You mean on account of having their eyes on the sides of their heads rather than in front?

    They do, and I honestly don't know how their vision works, but I would guess that they can turn their eyeballs to the front to maybe get some depth perception? At least that's what it looked like to me with this hare. It was a really long, straight road where you could see 1 km or more in both directions, and the hare was being really careful waiting until the road was completely clear in both directions.

    It likely also relied a lot on directional hearing, but really was turning its head which I don't think they usually do, since they can easily turn their ears independently.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I had a deer trot out of the woods and up close to the shoulder of the road. As I'm pumping the brakes, she's waiting for me to pass while craning her neck to look down the highway, both ways. It was a bit surreal.

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