Magpies Are Self-Aware 591
FireStormZ writes "Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only four species of apes, bottlenose dolphins, and Asian elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies, a species with a brain structure very different from mammals, could also identify themselves. It had been thought that the neocortex brain area found in mammals was crucial to self-recognition. Yet birds, which last shared a common ancestor with mammals 300 million years ago, don't have a neocortex, suggesting that higher cognitive skills can develop in other ways."
Food? (Score:3, Funny)
I had issues with self-aware animals being used for testing or being killed for food or tusks....
Now I have to worry about magpies? damn....I loves me Magpie meat.
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:5, Funny)
Several other birds are also known for pretty amazing intellectual feats (symbolic language is a pretty famous one), considering their brain size.
It's probably because of those scary velociraptor genes.
Excellent news. (Score:5, Funny)
Now we can punish the thieving bastards by putting them in prison instead of just shooting them.
Re:The bird replies: (Score:4, Funny)
chicks dig consistency.
Odd experiment in self awareness (Score:5, Funny)
A few years ago they tried the red dot on the forehead mirror test with Congressmen but got no reaction. As a control they tried taping a $100 bill to their foreheads and all quickly recognized the bill and reached for it. In an even more bizarre twist they seem to be able to find the bill even when blindfolded. They seemed to sniff the air so it was assumed they could smell the bill. Even stranger still when they taped a $1 bill to their foreheads it got no reaction even when they weren't blindfolded. The researchers concluded Congressmen were amazing creatures worthy of more study. As to them being self aware the tests were inconclusive.
Re:The bird replies: (Score:4, Funny)
No ones done it yet? (Score:4, Funny)
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of them!
Re:Magpies are evil. (Score:5, Funny)
Had a similar experience with crows.
I was walking through the park and obviously got too near a nest of something. I noticed two started to circle way above my head. My first thought was "Cool" because I was heavily into the goth thing at the time. After a few more feet they attacked. No pecking, but flapping wings in front of my face, diving at my head, that sort of stuff. Nobody else walking along that way was targeted.
People watching they would have seen a goth in a leather trenchcoat stumbling, waving his arms, running and yelling. Looking back, that must have been quite funny to watch.
Re:Odd experiment in self awareness (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds like my ex-wife!
Re:Roadside magpies (Score:5, Funny)
I was walking in the forest near home once with my little boy when we saw a pheasant meandering along. When it saw us it froze and stood there stock still, presumably hoping we wouldn't notice it.
When my son saw it, naturally (for a three year old) he charged straight towards it with his arms out, laughing. The pheasant looked pretty surprised and eventually bolted for the nearest bush. Hilariously, it just stuck it's head in while it's body and legs remained flat on the floor, completely exposed.
Possibly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.
I think an animal should know it's in big trouble when it's easy meat for a human toddler.
Re:Magpies are evil. (Score:5, Funny)
I saw other people walking around and assumed that the coast was clear and went on my merry way. However, said demon bird was waiting for me and attacked again. Why it didnt attack any of the other potential targets and instead wait for me I'll never know.
Tippi Hedren, is that you?
Re:Magpies are evil. (Score:4, Funny)
It had been thought... (Score:2, Funny)
It had been thought only four species of apes, bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants and some select few C# programmers
Skynet... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:5, Funny)
I saw that on TV so it may be wrong.
What?!
Re:Not the first time... (Score:2, Funny)
Skynet became self-aware on August 6, 1997.
Oops, we forgot its birthday this year again. I really hope it won't make a big deal about it.
Re:Magpies are evil. (Score:4, Funny)
I misread your first line as:
Had a similar experience with cows.
Try re-reading that entire message again with cows in mind. It certainly evokes an interesting mental image!
that must have been quite funny to watch.
A goth being buzzed by cows? I would pay to see that!
Re:Roadside magpies (Score:5, Funny)
When my son saw it, naturally (for a three year old) he charged straight towards it with his arms out, laughing. The pheasant looked pretty surprised and eventually bolted for the nearest bush. Hilariously, it just stuck it's head in while it's body and legs remained flat on the floor, completely exposed. Possibly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.
Perhaps the rest of the peasants were on the other side of the bush.... waiting....
According to Wikipedia... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Crows, for one (Score:5, Funny)
My chubby cat is not so impressed with the intelligence of the birds in our back yard.
Seriously, anyone who has ever had a parrot or macaw as a pet can tell you they're smarter than most people would think. And more social.
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:4, Funny)
Leave him alone! He's self aware and it probably took him ages to peck out the characters on his keyboard.
As a fellow magpie I understand his point perfectly.
Cheeping Weasel... (Score:2, Funny)
Vampires (Score:5, Funny)
Doesn't this logic mean that vampires are not self-aware?
Re:Crows, for one (Score:4, Funny)
Fixed that for you.
Re:Crows, for one (Score:1, Funny)
a murder of crows
Perhaps the others were hungry and pushed their comrade under the car.
Only joking, lezzers! (Score:1, Funny)
In my experience, the girls who have wives are the ugly ones.
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:3, Funny)
Magpies don't really kick people, sure they dive bomb you, but there little tiny legs wouldn't hurt too much.
Re:Looping behaviour (Score:1, Funny)
Does anyone remember an experiment where the researchers caused some creature to get stuck in an infinite loop only by changing their environment?
Was it a snake eating its tail? That'd be cool if it got stuck that way!
Re:Magpies are evil. (Score:2, Funny)
African or European fjords?
Re:Crows, for one (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder what a Chicken BSOD would look like?
Maybe it's a driver issue instead?
Anyhow, who would you ring up for support?
The advantage of course having a chicken BSOD itself is that you can eat it.
Re:Crows, for one (Score:5, Funny)
you don't have to make a complex chirping weasel model to brain-freeze a chicken. just hold its head close to a surface, then draw a straight line with a marker starting on its beak and extending about 30cm. the chicken will stay there hypnotized for a couple of minutes.
The chicken could be stunned because it is thinking: "WTF? Why is he drawing a straight line from my beak and onto the ground. Weird ass humans".
Re:Crows, for one (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I knew magpies are quite "smart" (Score:3, Funny)
Sure, that's what they claim. However, since cells are actually "analog" how do you simulate them in a digital environment? So you give each important characteristic 256 discrete values? 512? How many is "enough"? Even small rounding errors can have huge impacts on overall results. So, they might be able to perform a simulation of 22 million neurons and 11 billion synapses, but these are just an approximation.
It reminds me of this joke:
A racehorse owner hires a biologist, a chemist, and a physicist to improve the performance of his stock. Months later, he returns. First the chemist says, "I have devised a new, undetectable drug that will improve the acceleration of your horses by 20%, admittedly while decreasing their lifespan by approximately the same amount." The biologist says, "I can't help you at the moment, but I have devised a selective breeding program which should ensure that you have a stable full of winners to pass on to your children." The physicist turns around from his blackboard, raises one finger, and says, "Consider a spherical horse..."
Re:Crows, for one (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Crows, for one (Score:5, Funny)
Yah... and as I said to a girlfriend who once bemoaned the fact that my cat was good at catching birds.... when was the last time you saw a cat fly?
Last night when I threw him across the room for scratching me?
Re:Crows, for one (Score:4, Funny)
My lion is not so impressed with the intelligence of humans.
Re:Crows, for one (Score:3, Funny)
intelligence of a (domesticated) chicken doesn't improve its survival ratio the least bit.
Oh, but it does! [wikipedia.org]
Re:Crows, for one (Score:3, Funny)
Unused organs degenerate.
Hence the attempts to sell sexual enhancement products to computer users?
Re:Crows, for one (Score:5, Funny)
Nice theory, but I've seen loads of dead crows on the road, as well as pigeons which seem to love attempting to dive bomb my van. The other day I was driving along, and there was a pigeon pecking away at something in the middle of the road. I braked, expecting it to fly away, but it didn't, and I didn't have time to stop. I didn't feel any impact, so I looked in my rear view mirror, and it was still happily pecking away in the middle of the road, seconds after my car had gone straight over the top of it. I'm not sure if this indicates extreme stupidity or extreme intelligence though.
Re:Looping behaviour (Score:3, Funny)
Well no shit.
I would too.
"HOLY SHIT SOMEONE MESSED WITH MY FOOD"
*quickly re-prepare food*
*lie in wait...*
"Ok, I guess no one's near my food. Safe to eat."
*go to food*
"HOLY SHIT SOMEONE MESSED WITH MY FOOD AGAIN"
Re:Crows, for one (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Looping behaviour (Score:2, Funny)
That is fascinating! But to add to the other comments about this not really being a loop, it amused me to imagine the wasp is thinking exactly the same thing from its point of view.
"I can get these humans to go into an infinite loop! All I have to do is drag prey to my burrow and go inside, then they will move the prey away! And they'll repeat this as long as I keep dragging it back and going inside!"