Azure-winged magpies show human-like generosity

uni:view magazin Videos Presse Social Media - Azure-winged magpies, an Asian bird species, take any opportunity to provide food to their group members, even without receiving any reward themselves. A team of cognitive biologists, lead by Lisa Horn and Jorg Massen from the University of Vienna, showed this type of prosocial behavior experimentally in a bird species for the first time. There are very few other animals that show such human-like generosity. The results of their study have been published in the scientific journal Biology Letters. Magpies do not always have the best reputation, as they are generally known for their tendency to steal shiny things. Also other bird species tested for prosociality so far turned out to be either indifferent to benefitting others or only provided food when the other repeatedly begged for it. Azure-winged magpies seem to be the exception to the rule.