Neuroscience

European Magpies Are Birds With Self-Awareness

News: The Curiosity Podcast is here! Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, SoundCloud and RSS.

Parents will remember this special milestone moment for their kids: the first time they noticed themselves in the mirror. This self-recognition happens at about 18 months for humans, along with most primates and a few other mammals. And also... one bird. Yep. The European magpie is the only bird to have passed the mirror-mark test.

Related: These Birds Can Count

Advertisement

I Spy With My Bird Eye... Me!

For centuries, researchers thought that self-recognition was limited to a few primates, elephants, bottlenose dolphins, and orca whales. But there's a new animal in town...with feathers. German psychologist Helmut Prior and his colleagues added European magpies to the exclusive list of animals with advanced cognitive abilities after a 2008 study published in the journal PLOS Biology.

Related: Sociable Weaver Birds Build The World's Largest Bird Nests

They performed the classic mirror-mark test by sticking colored dots onto the birds' necks, placing them outside of their line of vision. The magpies didn't react to the dots when they couldn't see them, but they started to scratch at them once placed in front of a mirror. The birds with black dots, however, had zero reaction. That means the birds recognize their reflections as themselves and not another animal. From this research, we now know that self-recognition isn't limited to mammals (and more recently, ants). Pretty cool, huh?

Related: To Avoid Collision, Birds Always Veer Right

Who You Callin' Bird-Brained?

But wait, there's more! Scientists once thought that self-awareness stemmed from the neocortex of the brain, but here's the thing—European magpies don't have a neocortex. As Science Daily states, this "suggests that higher cognitive skills can develop independently along separate evolutionary lines." In other words, bird brains work differently from mammalian brains, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't advanced. "Magpies are known for their ability to steal shiny objects and to hide away their loot," Helmut Prior tells New Scientist. "It's not too far-fetched that a master thief like a magpie has that perspective-taking ability." Takeaway: don't judge a bird by its brain.

Is there something you're curious about? Email us at editors (at) curiosity.com. And follow Curiosity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Love getting smarter? Sign up to our newsletter and get our best content in your inbox!

Watch And Learn: Our Favorite Content About Birds

Magpies Aren't So Bird-Brained

They might be birds with brains, but they're birds with BIG brains. And that makes a huge difference.

New Zealand Robins Can Count

This skill might've developed along with the species' propensity for stealing stored food from their mates.

Watch these birds react when they realize a worm is missing arrow_forward

Sociable Weaver Birds Build The World's Largest Bird Nests

Learn about the coolest things built by birds.

Share the knowledge!
The 3 Coolest Things Built By Birds
SciShow – SciShow

Key Facts In This Video

  1. Sociable weavers build gigantic, communal nests that can be six meters across with up to 100 nesting chambers. 00:36

  2. Oropendolas build their hanging nests near hornets and wasps to keep predators away. 02:07

  3. Some species of bower bird paint the walls of their bower with crushed berries or charcoal. 02:52

Advertisement