Australian Magpies Living in Large Groups Are No Bird Brains: Study

A new study by researchers from the University of Western Australia and the University of Exeter shows that in wild Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen), individuals that live in large groups show increased cognitive performance, which is linked to increased reproductive success.

The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. Image credit: Toby Hudson / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. Image credit: Toby Hudson / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Headed by University of Western Australia researcher Dr. Ben Ashton, the team examined the cognitive performance of 14 wild groups of Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis, also known as Cracticus tibicen dorsalis) in Perth, ranging in size from three to 12 birds.

The birds were tested away from other birds to prevent social factors influencing the results.

The scientists tested the cognitive ability of each magpie with four cognitive tasks that tested inhibitory control, associative learning, reversal learning and spatial memory.

The tasks included a detour-reaching task, where the birds had to find food hidden in a transparent cylinder, two foraging tasks to test associative learning, where food was hidden in different colored containers and a memory task where a food reward was hidden in the same place many times.

“The challenges of living in complex social groups have long been seen as drivers of cognitive evolution, however evidence to support this is contentious, and has recently been called into question,” Dr. Ashton said.

“It was possible that differences in energy intake and task attention could also affect cognitive performance, and for this reason body weight, foraging efficiency and reluctance to engage in the task were also taken into account in the study.”

“Our results suggest that the social environment plays a key role in the development of cognition,” he said.

“They also suggest a positive relationship between female cognitive performance and reproductive success indicating there is the potential for natural selection to act on cognition.”

“Together, these results support the idea that the social environment plays an important role in cognitive evolution.”

This is one of the first studies to conduct large-scale cognitive tests on wild populations and find a strong link between cognition, group size and reproductive success.

The findings were published in the February 15 issue of the journal Nature.

_____

Benjamin J. Ashton et al. 2018. Cognitive performance is linked to group size and affects fitness in Australian magpies. Nature 554: 364-367; doi: 10.1038/nature25503

About Skype

Check Also

, Google Bard AI With a Google Search, #Bizwhiznetwork.com Innovation ΛI

Google Bard AI With a Google Search

Google wasted no time releasing its Bard AI chatbot in early 2023 following the reveal …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bizwhiznetwork Consultation