Bird Brains by Gareth Huw Davies

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Bird Brains by Gareth Huw Davies Bird Brains by Gareth Huw Davies The scene: a traffic light crossing on a university campus in A Japanese Japan. Carrion crows and carrion crow humans line up patiently, examines the fruit of its waiting for the traffic to labors halt. When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when it’s time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal. If the cars miss the nuts, the birds sometimes hop back and put them somewhere else on the road. Or they sit on electricity wires and drop them in front of vehicles. Biologists already knew the corvid family–it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws–to be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behavior–it features in the final program of “Life of Birds”–would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence. The crows in Japan have only been cracking nuts this way since about 1990. They have since been seen doing it in California. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. The crows already knew about dropping clams from a height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell. Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below. The hapless Aeschylus (525-456 BC), a father of Greek tragic drama, is said to have met his end by this means. A seer predicted he would die when a house fell on him, so the wary scribe departed for the hillsides, well away from any dwellings, where he believed he was safe. He wasn’t. An eagle is said to have mistaken Aeschylus’ bald pate for a stone, and dropped the creature in its “house” onto it. Scientists have argued for decades over whether wild creatures, including birds, show genuine intelligence. Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way. Some birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. The Clarke’s nutcracker, a type of North American crow, may have the animal world's keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow. On the Pacific island of The New Caledonia, the crows Caledonian demonstrate a tool- Crow uses a twig as a tool making, and tool using, to extract capability comparable to grubs Palaeolithic man’s. Dr Gavin Hunt, a New Zealand biologist, spent three years observing the birds. He found that they used two different forms of hooked “tool” to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks. Other birds and some primates have been seen to use objects to forage. But what is unusual here is that the crows also make their own tools. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs, and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. And they don’t throw the tools away after one use–they carry them from one foraging place to another. Scientists are still debating what this behavior–shown in program three–means. Man’s use of tools is considered a prime indication of his intelligence. Is this a skill acquired by chance? Did the crows acquire tool making skills by trial and error rather than planning? Or, in its ability to adapt and exploit an enormous range of resources and habitats, is the crow closer to humans than any other creature? Dr Hunt, then of Massey University in New Zealand, said this of his research: “There are many intriguing questions that remain to be answered about crows’ tool behavior. Most important would be whether or not they mostly learn or genetically inherit the know-how to make and use tools. Without knowing that it is difficult to say anything about their intelligence, although one could guess that these crows have the capability to be as clever as crows in general.” The woodpecker finch, a The Galapogos bird of the Galapagos, is Finch also uses another consummate a twig to toolmaker. It will snap off extract a meal a twig, trim it to size and use it to pry insects out of bark. In captivity, a cactus finch learnt how to do this by watching the woodpecker finch from its cage. The teacher helped the pupil by passing a ready-made spine across for the cactus finch to use. Sometimes a bird species’ very survival depends on its ability to learn fast. Birds need to recognize a cuckoo egg dumped in their own nest and either throw out the strange egg or desert the nest to start afresh. In Japan, the common cuckoo recently switched to a new, unsuspecting host on which to dump its eggs, the azure-winged magpie. The emerging cuckoo chicks ejected their foster siblings, and the magpie population dropped dramatically. Ten years on, the magpies started to fight back. They learnt to detect the “foreign” eggs. Within a few years, there was a four- fold increase in its rejection of cuckoo eggs. The speed with which the magpie changed its behavior has astounded biologists. Another sign of intelligence, thought to be absent in most non- human animals, is the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication. The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson, has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect. The captive African grey parrot Alex is one of a number of parrots and macaws now believed to have the intelligence and emotional make-up of a 3 to 4 year old child. Under the tutelage of Professor Pepperberg, he acquired a vocabulary of over 100 words. He could say the words for colors and shapes and, apparently, use them meaningfully. He has learned the labels for more than 35 different objects; he knows when to use “no,” and phrases such as “come here”, “I want X,” and “Wanna go Y.” A bird’s ability to understand, or speak, another bird’s language can be very valuable. New Zealand saddlebacks, starling-like birds, occupy the same territory for years. They have distinct song “dialects” passed on through the generations. New territory vacancies are hard to find, so young males are always on the look-out for new widows into whose territory they can move. While they wander around the forest, they learn the different dialect songs, just as we might learn a language or develop a regional dialect. As soon as a territory-owning male dies, a new young male may move in to take over within 10 minutes. He will immediately start singing the dialect of the territory he is in. Intelligence–if this is what scientists agree these birds possess– is not limited to the birds we always thought of as “bright.” In recent experiments at Cardiff University in Britain, a pigeon identified subtle differences between abstract designs that even art students did not notice. It could even tell that a Picasso was not the same as a Monet. The experiment seems to show that pigeons can hold concepts, or ideas, in their heads. The visual concept for the pigeon is Picasso’s painting style. Some birds seem to indulge in “intelligent” play. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, has been filmed ripping (inedible) windscreen wipers off cars. Young keas, in a neat variation of ringing the doorbell and running away, are known to drop rocks on roofs to make people run outside. Jack the jackdaw was raised by wildlife film producer John Downer. As soon as Jack was mature, he was released into the wild. However, he couldn’t stay away. “One thing he is totally fascinated by is telephones,” said Downer. “He knows how to hit the loudspeaker button and preset dial button. Once we came into the office to find him squawking down the telephone to the local travel agent.” Jack also likes to fly down onto the mirror of the production car when he sees somebody going out. “He turns into the wind, gets his head down and surfs on the air current until we reach about 30 mph when he gives up. “Like all jackdaws, Jack shows great versatility and intelligence. Because he has to exploit a wide range of foods, he is investigating things all the time.” However, scientists believe it is not physical need that drives creatures to become smarter, but social necessity. The complexities of living together require a higher level of intelligence. Corvids and parrots, along with dolphins, chimps, and humans are all highly social–and smart–animals. Some ravens certainly apply their intelligence for the good of the flock. In North America, they contact other ravens to tell them the location of a carcass. Ravens are specialized feeders on the carcasses of large mammals such as moose during the harsh winter months of North America.
Recommended publications
  • 04. Ecological Relationships Lesson #3: CLARK THE
    Ecological Relationships Lesson #3: CLARK THE NUTCRACKER SOverviewTORY: This introduces the art of creating a species account. The account identifies the important qualities of a species through a scientific drawing. This then leads to exploration of the interrelationship of the Clark’s Nutcracker (a type of woodpecker) and the whitebark pine. Learner Outcomes Getting Ready Youth will: Materials: Youth need journals and writing utensils; staff need 1. Know how to complete a species account colored pencils, poker chips, and handouts. identifying the important species Preparation: For the “Made for Each Other” activity, set up the characteristics through a scientific whitebark pine food sources in 4 piles of poker chips and spread drawing. them out in the center of the area. The three cache sites should 2. Know the life history of the Clark’s not be more than seven feet apart and should be on the outside Nutcracker. circle of the food source. Assign cache sites to each group. Use 3. Understand mutualism in the ecological different objects to mark the cache sites. context of Yellowstone National Park. Location: A large area (25 x 25 yards) would be preferable for 4. Know how to define whitebark pine the “Made for Each Other” activity. An ideal location would ecosystem functions. have whitebark pines and/or Clark’s Nutcracker activity. Background The following material is not required to instruct this lesson. Adapted from Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook: 2013. Forest Insect Pest The conifer trees of Yellowstone face many threats, however the most damaging one is the native pine bark beetle. It is indicated that this species has been around for centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • There's No Place Like Home
    United States Department of Agriculture There’s No Place Like Home: D E E Forest Service P R A R U TM U LT ENT OF AGRIC Pacific Northwest Region Clark’s Nutcracker Home Ranges and 2011 Whitebark Pine Regeneration FOR CLARK’S nutcrackers, “home” is a year-round hub. What do we mean by “space use” and “home range”? Although nutcrackers show tenacious fidelity to home ranges in winter, spring, and summer, they spend every “Space use” describes how animals use a landscape. The term autumn traveling around to harvest seeds. Nearly all seeds is most commonly used to discuss home range characteristics are transported back home for storage, a process that has and the selection of resources (habitats, food items, roost sites) vast implications for forest regeneration. within home ranges. In our study, we used the term “home range” to describe the BACKGROUND area used by a resident nutcracker for all year-round activities We investigated habitat use, caching behavior, and except seed harvest. This is because areas used for seed harvest migratory patterns in Clark’s nutcrackers in the Pacific in autumn were ever-changing and temporary—birds showed Northwest using radio telemetry. Over 4 years (2006– no fidelity to forests used for seed harvest, but rather used these 2009), we captured 54 adult nutcrackers at 10 sites in the forests only as long as seeds were present on trees. Cascade and Olympic Mountains in Washington State. What do we know about nutcracker space use? We fitted nutcrackers with a back-pack style harness. The battery life on the radio tags was 450 days, and Vander Wall and Balda (1977) and Tomback (1978) were the we tracked nutcrackers year-round, on foot (to obtain first to report that nutcrackers harvest large-seeded pines in behavior observations) and via aircraft (to obtain point autumn and often range over large areas and multiple elevation locations).
    [Show full text]
  • The Perplexing Pinyon Jay
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Papers in Behavior and Biological Sciences Papers in the Biological Sciences 1998 The Ecology and Evolution of Spatial Memory in Corvids of the Southwestern USA: The Perplexing Pinyon Jay Russell P. Balda Northern Arizona University,, [email protected] Alan Kamil University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscibehavior Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons Balda, Russell P. and Kamil, Alan, "The Ecology and Evolution of Spatial Memory in Corvids of the Southwestern USA: The Perplexing Pinyon Jay" (1998). Papers in Behavior and Biological Sciences. 17. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscibehavior/17 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers in Behavior and Biological Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published (as Chapter 2) in Animal Cognition in Nature: The Convergence of Psychology and Biology in Laboratory and Field, edited by Russell P. Balda, Irene M. Pepperberg, and Alan C. Kamil, San Diego (Academic Press, 1998), pp. 29–64. Copyright © 1998 by Academic Press. Used by permission. The Ecology and Evolution of Spatial Memory in Corvids of the Southwestern USA: The Perplexing Pinyon Jay Russell P. Balda 1 and Alan C. Kamil 2 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Northern
    [Show full text]
  • Walker Marzluff 2017 Recreation Changes Lanscape Use of Corvids
    Recreation changes the use of a wild landscape by corvids Author(s): Lauren E. Walker and John M. Marzluff Source: The Condor, 117(2):262-283. Published By: Cooper Ornithological Society https://doi.org/10.1650/CONDOR-14-169.1 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1650/CONDOR-14-169.1 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Volume 117, 2015, pp. 262–283 DOI: 10.1650/CONDOR-14-169.1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Recreation changes the use of a wild landscape by corvids Lauren E. Walker* and John M. Marzluff College of the Environment, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA * Corresponding author: [email protected] Submitted October 24, 2014; Accepted February 13, 2015; Published May 6, 2015 ABSTRACT As urban areas have grown in population, use of nearby natural areas for outdoor recreation has also increased, potentially influencing bird distribution in landscapes managed for conservation.
    [Show full text]
  • Individual Repeatability, Species Differences, and The
    Supplementary Materials: Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS 2 Figure S1 . Latency to touch familiar food in each round, across all conditions and species. Round 3 differs from round 1 and 2, while round 1 and 2 do not differ from each other. Points represent individuals, lines represent median. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS 3 Figure S2 . Site effect on latency to touch familiar food in azure-winged magpie, carrion crow and pinyon jay. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS 4 Table S1 Pairwise comparisons of latency data between species Estimate Standard error z p-value Blue jay - Azure-winged magpie 0.491 0.209 2.351 0.019 Carrion crow - Azure-winged magpie -0.496 0.177 -2.811 0.005 Clark’s nutcracker - Azure-winged magpie 0.518 0.203 2.558 0.011 Common raven - Azure-winged magpie -0.437 0.183 -2.392 0.017 Eurasian jay - Azure-winged magpie 0.284 0.166 1.710 0.087 ’Alal¯a- Azure-winged magpie 0.416 0.144 2.891 0.004 Large-billed crow - Azure-winged magpie 0.668 0.189 3.540 0.000 New Caledonian crow - Azure-winged magpie -0.316 0.209 -1.513 0.130 Pinyon jay - Azure-winged magpie 0.118 0.170 0.693 0.488 Carrion crow - Blue jay -0.988 0.199 -4.959 0.000 Clark’s nutcracker - Blue jay 0.027 0.223 0.122 0.903 Common raven - Blue jay -0.929 0.205 -4.537 0.000 Eurasian jay - Blue jay -0.207 0.190 -1.091 0.275 ’Alal¯a- Blue jay -0.076 0.171 -0.443 0.658 Large-billed crow - Blue jay 0.177 0.210 0.843 0.399 New Caledonian crow - Blue jay -0.808 0.228 -3.536
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT BOOK Listed Alphabetically by Last Name Of
    ABSTRACT BOOK Listed alphabetically by last name of presenting author AOS 2019 Meeting 24-28 June 2019 ORAL PRESENTATIONS Variability in the Use of Acoustic Space Between propensity, renesting intervals, and renest reproductive Two Tropical Forest Bird Communities success of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) by fol- lowing 1,922 nests and 1,785 unique breeding adults Patrick J Hart, Kristina L Paxton, Grace Tredinnick from 2014 2016 in North and South Dakota, USA. The apparent renesting rate was 20%. Renesting propen- When acoustic signals sent from individuals overlap sity declined if reproductive attempts failed during the in frequency or time, acoustic interference and signal brood-rearing stage, nests were depredated, reproduc- masking occurs, which may reduce the receiver’s abil- tive failure occurred later in the breeding season, or ity to discriminate information from the signal. Under individuals had previously renested that year. Addi- the acoustic niche hypothesis (ANH), acoustic space is tionally, plovers were less likely to renest on reservoirs a resource that organisms may compete for, and sig- compared to other habitats. Renesting intervals de- naling behavior has evolved to minimize overlap with clined when individuals had not already renested, were heterospecific calling individuals. Because tropical after second-year adults without prior breeding experi- wet forests have such high bird species diversity and ence, and moved short distances between nest attempts. abundance, and thus high potential for competition for Renesting intervals also decreased if the attempt failed acoustic niche space, they are good places to examine later in the season. Lastly, overall reproductive success the way acoustic space is partitioned.
    [Show full text]
  • Zoologische Verhandelingen
    Systematic notes on Asian birds. 45. Types of the Corvidae E.C. Dickinson, R.W.R.J. Dekker, S. Eck & S. Somadikarta With contributions by M. Kalyakin, V. Loskot, H. Morioka, C. Violani, C. Voisin & J-F. Voisin Dickinson, E.C., R.W.R.J. Dekker, S. Eck & S. Somadikarta. Systematic notes on Asian birds. 45. Types of the Corvidae. Zool. Verh. Leiden 350, 26.xi.2004: 111-148.— ISSN 0024-1652/ISBN 90-73239-95-8. Edward C. Dickinson, c/o The Trust for Oriental Ornithology, Flat 3, Bolsover Court, 19 Bolsover Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN20 7JG, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]). René W.R.J. Dekker, National Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands (e-mail: [email protected]). Siegfried Eck, Staatliche Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Tierkunde, A.B. Meyer Bau, Königsbrücker Landstrasse 159, D-01109 Dresden, Germany (e-mail: [email protected]. sachsen.de). Soekarja Somadikarta, Dept. of Biology, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Indonesia, Depok Campus, Depok 16424, Indonesia (e-mail: [email protected]). Mikhail V. Kalyakin, Zoological Museum, Moscow State University, Bol’shaya Nikitskaya Str. 6, Moscow, 103009, Russia (e-mail: [email protected]). Vladimir M. Loskot, Department of Ornithology, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, 199034 Russia (e-mail: [email protected]). Hiroyuki Morioka, Curator Emeritus, National Science Museum, Hyakunin-cho 3-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan. Carlo Violani, Department of Biology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy (e-mail: [email protected]).
    [Show full text]
  • Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga Columbiana)
    PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF THREE HIGH LATITUDE RESIDENT CORVIDS: CLARK’S NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA COLUMBIANA), EURASIAN NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES), AND GRAY JAY (PERISOREUS CANADENSIS) KIMBERLY MARGARET DOHMS Bachelor of Science Honours, University of Regina, 2001 Masters of Science, University of Regina, 2009 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Kimberly M. Dohms, 2016 PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF THREE HIGH LATITUDE RESIDENT CORVIDS: CLARK’S NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA COLUMBIANA), EURASIAN NUTCRACKER (NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES), AND GRAY JAY (PERISOREUS CANADENSIS) KIMBERLY MARGARET DOHMS Date of Defense: November 30, 2015 Dr. T. Burg Associate Professor Ph.D Supervisor Dr. A. Iwaniuk Associate Professor Ph.D Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. C. Goater Professor Ph.D Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. D. Logue Assistant Professor Ph.D Internal Examiner Dr. K. Omland Professor Ph.D External Examiner University of Maryland, Baltimore County Baltimore, Maryland Dr. J. Thomas Professor Ph.D Chair, Thesis Examination Committee DEDICATION For the owl and the pussy cat. (And also the centipede.) iii GENERAL ABSTRACT High latitude resident bird species provide an unique opportunity to investigate patterns of postglacial and barrier-mediated dispersal. In this study, multiple genetic markers were used to understand postglacial colonization by and contemporary barriers to gene flow in three corvids. Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), Eurasian nutcracker (N. caryocatactes), and gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis) are year-round resident northern hemisphere passerines with ranges encompassing previously glaciated and unglaciated regions and potential barriers to dispersal (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • COMPARING HUMANS and BIRDS by Daniel C. Mann a Dissertation
    STABILIZING FORCES IN ACOUSTIC CULTURAL EVOLUTION: COMPARING HUMANS AND BIRDS by Daniel C. Mann A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 2019 DANIEL C. MANN All rights reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. JULIETTE BLEVINS Date Chair of the Examining Committee GITA MARTOHARDJONO Date Executive Officer MARISA HOESCHELE DAVID C. LAHTI MICHAEL I. MANDEL Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract STABILIZING FORCES IN ACOUSTIC CULTURAL EVOLUTION: COMPARING HUMANS AND BIRDS By Daniel C. Mann Advisor: Professor Juliette Blevins Learned acoustic communication systems, like birdsong and spoken human language, can be described from two seemingly contradictory perspectives. On one hand, learned acoustic communication systems can be remarkably consistent. Substantive and descriptive generalizations can be made which hold for a majority of populations within a species. On the other hand, learned acoustic communication systems are often highly variable. The degree of variation is often so great that few, if any, substantive generalizations hold for all populations in a species. Within my dissertation, I explore the interplay of variation and uniformity in three vocal learning species: budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus), and humans (Homo sapiens). Budgerigars are well-known for their versatile mimicry skills, house finch song organization is uniform across populations, and human language has been described as the prime example of variability by some while others see only subtle variations of largely uniform system.
    [Show full text]
  • British Birds |
    VOL. LI DECEMBER No. 12 1958 BRITISH BIRDS CONCEALMENT AND RECOVERY OF FOOD BY BIRDS, WITH SOME RELEVANT OBSERVATIONS ON SQUIRRELS By T. J. RICHARDS THE FOOD-STORING INSTINCT occurs in a variety of creatures, from insects to Man. The best-known examples are found in certain Hymenoptera (bees, ants) and in rodents (rats, mice, squirrels). In birds food-hoarding- has become associated mainly with the highly-intelligent Corvidae, some of which have also acquired a reputation for carrying away and hiding inedible objects. That the habit is practised to a great extent by certain small birds is less generally known. There is one familiar example, the Red- backed Shrike (Lanius cristatus collurio), but this bird's "larder" does not fall into quite the same category as the type of food- storage with which this paper is concerned. Firstly, the food is not concealed and therefore no problem arises regarding its recovery, and secondly, since the bird is a summer-resident, the store cannot serve the purpose of providing for the winter months. In the early autumn of 1948, concealment of food by Coal Tit (Parns ater), Marsh Tit (P. palustris) and Nuthatch (Sitta enropaea) was observed at Sidmouth, Devon (Richards, 1949). Subsequent observation has confirmed that the habit is common in these species and has also shown that the Rook (Corvus jrngilegus) will bury acorns [Querents spp.) in the ground, some- • times transporting the food to a considerable distance before doing so. This paper is mainly concerned with the food-storing behaviour of these four species, and is a summary of observations made intermittently between 1948 and 1957 in the vicinity of Sidmouth.
    [Show full text]
  • Testing Two Competing Hypotheses for Eurasian Jays' Caching for the Future
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future Piero Amodio1,2,6*, Johanni Brea3,6, Benjamin G. Farrar1,4, Ljerka Ostojić1,4,5 & Nicola S. Clayton1 Previous research reported that corvids preferentially cache food in a location where no food will be available or cache more of a specifc food in a location where this food will not be available. Here, we consider possible explanations for these prospective caching behaviours and directly compare two competing hypotheses. The Compensatory Caching Hypothesis suggests that birds learn to cache more of a particular food in places where that food was less frequently available in the past. In contrast, the Future Planning Hypothesis suggests that birds recall the ‘what–when–where’ features of specifc past events to predict the future availability of food. We designed a protocol in which the two hypotheses predict diferent caching patterns across diferent caching locations such that the two explanations can be disambiguated. We formalised the hypotheses in a Bayesian model comparison and tested this protocol in two experiments with one of the previously tested species, namely Eurasian jays. Consistently across the two experiments, the observed caching pattern did not support either hypothesis; rather it was best explained by a uniform distribution of caches over the diferent caching locations. Future research is needed to gain more insight into the cognitive mechanism underpinning corvids’ caching for the future. Over the last two decades, an increasing number of studies in non-human animals have challenged the view that future planning abilities are uniquely human (primates:1–5; corvids:6–9; rodents:10,11, although see2).
    [Show full text]
  • P0449-P0451.Pdf
    SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 449 aspects of temperature regulation in the Burrow- ical contamination in golden eagles in south- ing Owl, Speotyto cunicularia. Camp. Biochem. western Idaho. MS. thesis. Univ. of Idaho. Physiol. 35: 307-337. Moscow, Idaho. FITCH, H. S. 1974. Observations on the food and NELSON, M. 1969. Status of the peregrine falcon in nesting of the Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo the northwest, p. 64-72. In J. J. Hickey [ed.], platypterus) in northern Kansas. Condor 76: Peregrine Falcon populations, their biology and 331-333. decline. Univ. of Wisconsin Press, Madison, FITCH, H. S., F. SWENSON AND D. F. TILLOTSON. Wisconsin. 1946. Behavior and food habits of the Red- SOUTHWICK, E. E. 1973. Remote sensing of body tailed Hawk. Condor 48:205-237. temperature in a captive 25-G bird. Condor GATEHOUSE, S. N. AND B. J. MARKHAM. 1970. 75 :464-466. Respiratory metabolism of three species of rap- WARHAM, J. 1971. Body temperatures of petrels. tors. Auk 87:738-741. Condor 73:214-219. HATCH, D. E. 1970. Energy conservation and heat dissipating mechanisms of the Turkey Vulture. Department of Biology, Northwest Nazarene College, Auk 87:111-124. Nampa, Idaho 83651. Accepted for publication 26 KOCHERT, M. N. 1972. Population status and chem- February 1978. Cudor, 80:449-451 0 The Cooper Ornithological Society 1978 PREDATION ON VERTEBRATES times (Table 1). At least six attacks were successful; BY CLARKS’ NUTCRACKERS on the other occasions, the prey escaped by entering a burrow or bush. Beldings’ Ground Squirrels were attacked most BARRY S. MULDER frequently ( 54% ), but because our observations BRIAN B.
    [Show full text]