Australian researchers in Queensland attempted to track the movements of magpies using tiny GPS trackers, but the birds had other plans. Within ten minutes of being fitted with the devices, an untagged adult female magpie began to remove the harness from a juvenile, and soon other birds were helping each other to remove the trackers.
The researchers had designed the trackers to stay attached for weeks, but they were removed within minutes to days. The team had spent weeks habituating the birds to a feeding station before catching five magpies and fitting them with the GPS loggers and harnesses. Each bird received a GPS logger and harness weighing about 2.7 grams, plus identification bands.
The harness included a deliberate weak point that was designed to release safely when a tagged bird returned to the feeding station and a magnet was triggered. However, the magpies were able to find this weak point and remove the trackers without the magnet. The first removal took less than an hour, and soon all of the birds had removed their trackers.
Cooperation and Problem-Solving
The researchers observed that the magpies were cooperating with each other to remove the trackers, with some birds helping others to remove the devices. The fitted birds could not easily reach the harness section on their own backs, so they needed the help of a flockmate to remove the tracker. The researchers interpreted this as cooperation and moderate problem-solving.
The study did not measure what the helper birds understood, whether the harness caused distress, or whether removing unfamiliar objects is part of ordinary social grooming. However, the social setting of the magpies is important, and a separate study found that birds in larger groups performed better in tasks such as inhibitory control, associative learning, reversal learning, and spatial memory.
Implications for Animal Tracking
The failure of the tracking trial highlights the importance of considering the social behavior of animals when designing tracking studies. The magpies’ ability to remove the trackers demonstrates that animals can interact with tracking devices in unexpected ways, and that researchers need to take this into account when designing their studies.
The study also highlights the importance of pilot studies, which can help to identify potential problems with a research design before a larger study is conducted. In this case, the pilot study revealed a flaw in the tracking method that could have been missed if the study had been conducted on a larger scale.
Conclusion
The magpie study may not have provided the movement data that the researchers were looking for, but it has revealed an interesting aspect of magpie behavior. The birds’ ability to cooperate and problem-solve has provided a useful insight into the social behavior of these animals, and highlights the importance of considering the social context of animal behavior in research studies.
Mitchell Landsberg is the senior reporter for News Raise and focuses on Technology. Mitchell regularly writes about social media platforms and how influencers, industry and general people use them to communicate and make money.
