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Magpies Help Each Other Remove Tracking Devices
Clever birds outsmart scientists by helping each other
© Lance / FCC
Tracking birds can be tricky — even with GPS technology. Around 70% of bird species are just too small to carry a GPS battery. But recently, Australian scientists developed GPS trackers that looked like little backpacks, weighed less than a gram, could charge wirelessly and could be quickly released with a magnet. When the researchers tested the trackers on Australian Magpies, though, the birds managed to pinpoint a tiny weak spot in the backpack and helped each other peck the trackers off. This showed evidence of altruism, a rare behavior among birds.
BirdNote®
Magpies Help Each Other Remove Tracking Devices
Written by Oriana Pauli
This is BirdNote.
[Australian Magpie calls]
Tracking birds can be tricky — even with GPS technology. Around 70% of bird species are just too small to carry a GPS battery.
But recently, Australian scientists developed GPS trackers that looked like little backpacks and weighed less than a gram. They could charge wirelessly while the birds visited a feeding station and could be quickly released with a magnet when the study was over — this would be less of a disturbance for the birds. But there were some unforeseen complications.
The researchers fastened their trackers on five wild Australian Magpies. Almost immediately, one magpie tried to escape from the ‘backpack’. Another magpie flew over to help. She managed to peck exactly at the tracker’s 1-millimeter weak spot, which was built in so the magnetic release could work. It only took 10 minutes for the birds to find it. Soon, all of the magpies were tracker-free.
[Australian Magpie calls]
The bright side was an unexpected discovery. The magpies showed evidence of altruism by helping others without any benefit to themselves — a rare behavior among birds.
Scientists are looking for a less intelligent and less social species to try the state-of-the-art trackers on next. Lizards are possible candidates.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
[Australian Magpie calls]
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Australian Magpie ML233423 recorded by Tony Baylis.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote April 2023
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# gps-01-2022-04-07 gps-01
Reference:
https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247
https://theconversation.com/altruism-in-birds-magpies-have-outwitted-sc…
Oriana Pauli
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
