As magpies live in larger herds, intelligence improves and fertility increases

byNAPARAZZI

Magpie, Hue GlassRecent studies have revealed that the power of the brain improves when living in a large flock.

Cognitive performance is linked to group size and affects fitness in Australian magpies | Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25503

Magpies' brain power may be boosted by living in larger groups - Science News - ABC News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-02-08/australian-magpie-brain-power-boosted-by-group-size/9401674

As we are investigating the cognitive ability of Magpie Glasses living in Perth, Australia, we found that "Magpie Hue glass is smarter for living in larger herds." This research is published in the science journal Nature, and it is said that by increasing the size of herds and living in complex social groups, the magpie's Hue glass's intelligence is also affected.

Dr. Ben Ashton of the University of Western Australia who is the author of the article said, "If the number of herds gets bigger, not only will we have to remember individual individuals, but also how we have to act and how we should act I will have to remember what I should not do, "he says, which means that the greater the number of herds the better the brain's power.

byNAPARAZZI

Magpie Fly Glass is a bird that can live in the same place for several years if conditions are met, and the group often has multiple households living together, there are also cases where the clan is forming a flock in exactly the same family is. Dr. Ashton's research team studied about such a magpie glass investigated a group of inhabitants in Guildford suburbs of Australia for three years. The flock of magpie's hue glass which was the subject of the study seemed to ranged from three small herds to twelve large flocks, and attached a color ring to the legs to distinguish them.

The research team conducted four tests on 56 adult birds among magpies belonging to these herds. Among the tests are the spatial memory tasks that the magpie has to hunt out the mozzarella cheese mass hidden in the eight partitions and the test that must take out the food from the transparent tube It contains. These tests test how much magpie Hue glass has the ability to control behavior, "Stop pinching beakers in the tube unnecessarily and procure food from either opening" You have to learn that.


As a result of this test, it was revealed that magpie magazine living in a large flock consistently achieved better results than individuals living in a few herds. According to Dr. Ashton, "There was no significant difference in the recognition ability of individuals in a small group". The relationship between "cognitive ability" and "scale of flock" was expected before the test, but the result was surprising.

Also, in order to investigate at which stage the intelligence of the magpie glass changes greatly, the research team is also testing 21 young birds every 100 days. At the youngest time when the test was conducted, it seems that there was no difference in the intelligence of young birds on the scale of the herds, but it was confirmed that after 200 days big differences in young bird intelligence began to occur. About this result Dr. Ashton commented, "This result is not purely genetic, it seems that there are some environmental factors."

In addition, it has also been found that female mackerel Hue glass with high intelligence produces high breeding results, but the reason is unknown. About this, Dr. Ashton said, "It may be because smart female magpies Hue glass is more successful breeding because it is better at protecting chicks and babies, or smart female birds more There is also the possibility that the chicks feed the high quality food. "

byCharles Haynes

Dr. Ashton's research team insists that an increase in communication in the group contributes to the development of brain networks and cognitive abilities, but Dr. Gisela Kaplan, a specialist of magpie glass and other research They insist that "when an animal collectively acts, it is not necessary to have high intelligence." In other words, in animals in general, it is thought that not necessarily "animals taking a lot of communication with large herds have higher intelligence".

Dr. Kapton said that the magpie's Hue Glass that lives in a large herd has developed cognitive abilities to increase the stability of herds and it lives in the outskirts of Guildford where there is no change in living environment over the past three years We insist that we should test the intelligence of the less stable group, not the herd.