Living in a large social group makes magpies more intelligent, finds a new study emphasising that social environment plays an important role in cognitive evolution.
Magpies are considered as one of the most intelligent animals in the world, and one of the only non-mammal species who are able to recognise themselves in a mirror test.
Females who are more intelligent are likely to have more offspring, indicating there is the potential for natural selection to act on cognition.
There was also a test of self-control, in which magpies had to stop themselves from pecking directly at the food through the transparent barrier and instead had to go round to the sides of the tube to get the food.
“The challenges of living in complex social groups have long been thought to drive cognitive evolution,” said Ben Ashton, from the University of Western Australia.
“However, our results suggest that the social environment plays a key role in the development of cognition,” he added.
