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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Black-billed magpies are among the few wild animals that have been shown to recognize humans.
Add the black-billed magpie to the list of birds that can recognize individual humans who pose a threat, scolding them when they approach, according to a new study.
The birds are part of the crow family, among the most intelligent animals. Previous studies have shown, for example, that crows can wield tools to find food and American crows have been shown to recognize humans who threaten their nest or captured them.
Until now, however, experimental evidence was lacking that magpies would do the same.
This changed in 2009 when Won Young Lee, a doctoral student at Seoul National University in Korea, was constantly taking eggs out of magpie nests for a long-term survey project and started to be followed and scolded by the nest owners.
He tried to fool the magpie by giving his cap to another person. "This did not work. When I moved away, the bird followed me rather than the fellow observer wearing my cap," he said in a news release.
The researchers followed up on this finding with a controlled experiment. A pair of humans, a climber who went up to nests and a non-climber, wearing the same clothes, were presented to the magpies. All the magpies showed aggression to the climbers, but not the non-climbers.
The researchers suggest the birds learn to recognize the threatening humans by vision, learning over time to distinguish individual faces. If so, magpies would be most likely to recognize humans in urban settings, a theory the team plans to test.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Animal Cognition.
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
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There are many animals out there that are smarter than what we would assume. Each species has its own uniqueness when it comes to interpreting environmental changes and recognizing visual stimuli as a guide for survival. I wish I could own a magpie so it would constantly watch out for specific culprits planning to break in my home. :)
There was this time that I threw old garlic bread out my back door, I usually throw all my old bread out for the birds. Magpies are always out there eating the bread. Anyway this one Magpie evidently didn't like the garlic bread and proceeded to let me know about it. I went out to start my car, and as I was reaching in to start the car something hit me on my back. I stood up and looked down and there is two pieces of garlic bread there. Then this Magpie starts squawking at me about 5 feet away. This Magpie picked up both pieces of garlic bread, flew over the house with them and dropped them on me!
Only a human would assume that a wild animal is looking at your face.
Animal behavioral articles like this are usually good for a laugh. Mainly because these findings are done by researchers (aka colledge students) who to stereotype; grew up in an urban setting without much experience with animals, and with a strong cultural bias against ignorant tribespeople, dumb farmers and evil hunters who have spent their whole lives interacting with animals and their environment. Such people could tell you that the list of animals that can recognize individuals is extraordinarily long and that wild animals are much more clever and communicative than humans give them credit for, but that knowledge didn't come from a textbook or a professor so it must be incorrect.
Those magpies are recognizing you by your scent, body language and mannerisms. Furthermore, they are recognizing you as a singular entity. If you disturb the nest, then take off all your clothes, they will be watching you the individual the whole time, not your clothes. Which is basic common sense. Your baseball cap isn't the threat, you are. If you really still think your face matters, wear ski masks. The magpie is still going to know which one of you climbed up the ladder. It's not stupid.