A researcher in South Korea going about his job collecting data on local magpie populations made a stunning discovery: The birds recognized his face, and began to dive-bomb him out of their nests, like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
I remember when a magpie came down from a nest tree scolding at me, study researcher Won Young Lee, a student at Seoul National University, said in a statement. I was with a second researcher at that time, and I tried to fool the magpie by giving my cap to the other person. But this did not work! When I moved away the bird followed me rather than the fellow observer wearing my cap.
At the time of the attack Lee was taking inventory of the birds around the university campus ââ¬â counting the number of birds and eggs in each nest. He had already visited some of the nests to install cameras for a separate project, and he noticed that only the birds from nests he had previously visited were aggressive specifically toward him.
Lee and his lab mates did a preliminary study of how the birds were able to recognize him. Two new students dressed up in the same clothing and entered the magpies' territory. One of them climbed the tree while the other stood on the ground. All of the magpies attacked only the climbers
It's not all that surprising that the magpies can recognize researchers; they are one of the few animals (including humans, other great apes, dolphins, elephants and even bees) that can actually recognize themselves in the mirror. They are also closely related to ravens, which have been noted to recognize and attack researchers invading their nests.
Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...DeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDYW5ncnliaXJkc21h
I remember when a magpie came down from a nest tree scolding at me, study researcher Won Young Lee, a student at Seoul National University, said in a statement. I was with a second researcher at that time, and I tried to fool the magpie by giving my cap to the other person. But this did not work! When I moved away the bird followed me rather than the fellow observer wearing my cap.
At the time of the attack Lee was taking inventory of the birds around the university campus ââ¬â counting the number of birds and eggs in each nest. He had already visited some of the nests to install cameras for a separate project, and he noticed that only the birds from nests he had previously visited were aggressive specifically toward him.
Lee and his lab mates did a preliminary study of how the birds were able to recognize him. Two new students dressed up in the same clothing and entered the magpies' territory. One of them climbed the tree while the other stood on the ground. All of the magpies attacked only the climbers
It's not all that surprising that the magpies can recognize researchers; they are one of the few animals (including humans, other great apes, dolphins, elephants and even bees) that can actually recognize themselves in the mirror. They are also closely related to ravens, which have been noted to recognize and attack researchers invading their nests.
Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...DeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDYW5ncnliaXJkc21h
