<
https://theconversation.com/the-smarter-the-magpie-the-better-they-can-handle-our-noisy-cities-214387>
"Cities are hard for wildlife. Many animal species avoid the cars, buildings,
smog and fragmented habitats of urban environments. Then there’s the noise
pollution, a serious issue for humans and animals alike, according to the World
Health Organization.
Human-made (anthropogenic) noise can be very bad for animals. Busy cities can
make it harder for animals to reproduce, communicate and behave naturally.
But magpies have generally found our cities to their liking. There is enough
food about – and they can usually out-compete other urban bird species.
Even within magpie populations, there are differences in how individuals cope
with noise. Our new research has found the magpies that perform better on an
associative learning task are better able to maintain their normal
anti-predator behaviours in noise. That is, the smarter the magpie, the better
they are likely to do in our cities."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
