Hacker News Reader

Have any other animals ever discovered fire?

If humans vanished today, how long would it take for the next animal to discover it? Which animal would it be? What about if we don't count primates? (Also worth noting, dolphins unfortunately have an extremely unfair disadvantage...)

View on HN

I don't think they know how to light a fire from scratch (yet?) but birds use fire, starting new fires using existing embers and burning twigs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/birds-intentionally-set-prey-ab...

That's very far from confirmed. The basis of that article is interviews with claimed witnesses and examination of oral history. That's 'cryptid' tier evidence. A whole lot of people will swear until their face turns blue that they've had brunch with bigfoot; that doesn't make it so.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com