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How much do you imagine birds know about what their feathered friends might be thinking? Are they capable of putting themselves in another bird’s shoes—if birds wore shoes—or do they simply rely on instinct to navigate intra-avian interactions?

The ability to comprehend that another’s thoughts and desires may differ from our own was long believed to be a uniquely human cognitive trait. Recent research has revealed that predicting and interpreting the beliefs and intentions of others is a skill that we share with some members of the crow family. Despite having a distinctly different brain structure, these brainy birds are capable of perspective-taking, the complex thinking and behavioral flexibility that enables them to ignore their own preferences and predict and respond to the preferences of their mates.

A University of Cambridge study revealed that the courting male Eurasian jay could perceive that the way to his best bird’s heart was through her stomach. Given a choice between two types of favorite worms to feed his mate, and regardless of which wriggly delicacy he wanted, the insightful jay chose to feed her the type of worm she had not already eaten. Because both humans and animals would prefer not to eat the same food for every meal, researchers concluded that the male jays paid attention to what their mates ate and predicted that offering her food she had not grown tired of would be more likely to please her. It seems, for Eurasian jays, to love a bird is to cater to her worm wishes—food for thought.

ICYMI Nature News

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