vogelstimmen.de

19 May 2009 - The University of Florida at Gainesville, USA, carried out a study on the cognitive skills of birds. Scientists studied mockingbirds, which are usually very courageous in their reaction to intruders who come too close to their nests. This behavior would be very stressful for birds in crowded places unless they were able to distinguish between individual persons. Researchers discovered that birds were able to differentiate people who had previously come too close to their nests from other people in a crowd. For the study, scientists had people climb trees in highly frequented areas and touch the nests. Even when they were later dressed differently, or in the company of other people, they were recognized by the birds, who left their nests much sooner than when others passed by.