Which bird is known for using stones to break open ostrich eggs?

The Egyptian vulture is known for using stones to break open ostrich eggs.

Its beak cannot easily pierce an ostrich egg’s exceptionally hard shell. The vulture picks up a rounded pebble, walks or stands near the egg, and repeatedly strikes or drops the stone until the shell cracks. It then feeds on the yolk and other contents.

This is one of the clearest examples of tool use in a bird. The behavior was widely publicized after observations by Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawick in the 1960s, although an earlier written report appeared in 1877. Experiments with wild and hand-reared birds suggest the behavior is innate rather than learned by copying adults.

A common mix-up is to credit ravens or other vultures. Brown-necked ravens may wait for Egyptian vultures to open eggs and then steal food, but the famous stone-throwing egg cracker is the Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus.