Jays: the birds that can talk like humans

amb206 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 11:12:00 +0000

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Jays are corvids – members of the crow family. ̽��ֱ��jays we see in Britain are Eurasian jays. With their pinkish plumage, and characteristic flash of blue, they will be familiar to many people as woodland birds that are increasingly seen in gardens, even in cities.

Professor Nicky Clayton (Department of Psychology) has carried out pioneering research into the thinking power of corvids. Her observations have revealed these crows to be extremely clever. In Aesop’s Fables, the wise old crow drops pebbles into a pitcher of water to raise the level and allow her to drink. Clayton’s work has revealed that real-life crows can, if they need to, use pebbles in just this way.

Corvids, including jays, cache (hide) food so that they can retrieve it later. They know who’s watching them and they also show the ability to plan ahead. Perhaps even more remarkably, corvids share their food. Male corvids even show the ability to understand what foods females prefer and will bring their mates tasty titbits.

We don’t think of corvids as song birds but current research is just beginning to reveal that they are skilled mimics, able to reproduce familiar sounds. As the accompanying film shows, a jay called Romero enjoys mimicking Clayton when she talks to him in one of the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� aviaries where she and colleagues are transforming our understanding of bird cognition.

These are just a few of the reasons that Clayton describes jays and other members of the crow family as ‘feathered apes’ – a term that challenges the ways we think about intelligence in the animal kingdom.

Clayton has been fascinated by birds ever since, as a young girl, she watched them in her garden. Her research into bird cognition has always run in parallel with her passion for dance. “It was the movements of birds that first drew me to them,” she says. “I wanted to know what they were doing, how they move and how they think.”

Next in the Cambridge Animal Alphabet: K is for a bird that has biologists, physicists and materials scientists working together to unravel the secrets behind its spectacular colour effects.

Have you missed the series so far? Catch up on Medium here.

Inset images: Eurasian jays (Ljerka Ostojic).

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, J is for Jay – a surprisingly clever corvid with the ability to mimic human voices and much more.

Jay

Ljerka Ostojic

Eurasian jay

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Monogamous birds read partner's food desires

ljm67 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:43:35 +0000

New research shows that male Eurasian Jays in committed relationships are able to share food with their female partner according to her current desire.

̽��ֱ��behaviour suggests the potential for ‘state-attribution’ in these birds – the ability to recognise and understand the internal life and psychological states of others.

̽��ֱ��research was carried out in Professor Nicola Clayton’s Comparative Cognition lab at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Psychology, and is published today in the journal PNAS.

Researchers tested mated jays and separated males from females. ̽��ֱ��females were fed one particular larvae, either wax moth or mealworm – a treat for the birds, like chocolates – allowing the males to observe from an adjacent compartment through a transparent window.

Once the pairs were reintroduced and the option of both larvae was presented, the males would choose to feed their partner the other type of larvae, to which she hadn’t previously had access – a change in diet welcomed by the female.

Through different tests using variations on food and visual access to the females during feeding, the researchers show that the males needed to actually see the females eating enough of and become sated by one type of larvae – called ‘specific satiety’ – to know to offer them the other type once reunited.

This demonstrates that the males’ sharing pattern was not a response to their partner’s behaviour indicating her preference but a response to the change in her internal state.

“Our results raise the possibility that these birds may be capable of ascribing desire to their mates – acknowledging an ‘internal life’ in others like that of their own,” said Ljerka Ostojic, who led the research.

“Ascribing internal states to other individuals requires the basic understanding that others are distinct from the self and others’ internal states are independent from, and differ from, one’s own.

When there was no opportunity to feed the female, males chose between the two foods according to their own desires. Only when they could share with the female did they disengage from their own desires and select food the female wanted.

̽��ֱ��researchers believe that this ability to respond to another’s internal state in a cooperative situation might be important for species living in long-term relationships. Food-sharing is an important courtship behaviour for the Jays – so the ability to determine which food is currently desired by his partner might increase the male’s value as a mate.

“A comparison might be a man giving his wife chocolates. ̽��ֱ��giving and receiving of chocolates is an important ‘pair-bonding’ ritual – but, a man that makes sure he gives his wife the chocolates she currently really wants will improve his bond with her much more effectively – getting in the good books, and proving himself a better life partner.”

Research suggests that Eurasian Jays might be able to determine aspects of the ‘internal life’ of their mate.

Our results raise the possibility that these birds may be capable of ascribing desire to their mates

Ljerka Ostojic

Eurasian Jay mating pair engaged in food-sharing

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Yes

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Eurasian jay

Jays: the birds that can talk like humans

Jay

Monogamous birds read partner's food desires