Birds get angry when their favourite snacks are swapped in magic trick

By Sam Wong

Jays respond angrily erstwhile shown a cup-and-balls-style magic instrumentality successful which their favourite snack is swapped for a little appealing one. Their responses amusement cognitive abilities that whitethorn travel into play erstwhile they pilfer nutrient caches hidden by different birds.

Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) person impressive memories and amusement immoderate capableness for imagining the beliefs and intentions of others, known arsenic theory of mind. As such, Alexandra Schnell and her colleagues astatine the University of Cambridge wondered whether jays would beryllium delicate to cognitive illusions designed to fool humans.

First, they tested six birds to find retired which nutrient each 1 preferred from a prime of worms, food and peanuts.

Then they showed the birds a mentation of the cups and balls magic trick, successful which nutrient was placed nether 1 of 2 overturned cups. The cups had drawstring handles truthful the birds could assistance them.

The birds had seen a worm oregon food portion spell into the cup, but successful immoderate cases the researchers swapped it for different benignant of food. If they expected to get their favourite nutrient and recovered 1 they liked less, they were much apt to past look nether the 2nd cup, and successful immoderate cases rejected the nutrient from the archetypal cupful completely. They were besides slower to instrumentality nutrient that wasn’t their favourite and were much apt to repetition picking up the cupful wherever they expected their favourite to be.

Birds with a higher societal fertile were much apt to cull nutrient they weren’t expecting to find, and tended to amusement stronger reactions, specified arsenic squawking and flying away. “They would get precise cross,” says Schnell. “It’s hard not to anthropomorphise, but it’s similar you could consciousness their frustration.”

This whitethorn beryllium due to the fact that ascendant birds person much entree to food, but it besides chimes with what magicians accidental astir humans, says Schnell. According to Clive Wilkins, a co-author of the survey who performs magic, erstwhile magicians usage “alpha” assemblage members arsenic volunteers, they are much apt to respond negatively to a trick. “It’s similar they don’t privation to beryllium the butt of the joke,” says Schnell.

The birds’ reactions amusement an quality to ideate the contiguous future, measure their expectations and usage those evaluations to usher however they respond, she says.

This raises questions astir whether jays usage these capacities to marque decisions astir stealing different birds’ caches successful the wild. “If they spot different idiosyncratic caching a seed, which is astir apt a mediocre treat, it mightiness not bother. But if it sees this idiosyncratic caching a worm, it mightiness marque a intelligence enactment to travel backmost and bargain that cache, utilizing that representation and evaluating what that idiosyncratic is expecting to find,” says Schnell.

Journal reference: Royal Society Open Science, DOI: 10.1098/rsos.202358

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