When we attached tiny, backpack-like tracking devices to five Australian magpies for a pilot study, we didn't expect to discover an entirely new social behavior rarely seen in birds.
Our goal was to learn more about the movement and social dynamics of these highly intelligent birds, and to test these new, durable and reusable devices. Instead, the birds outsmarted us.explains, the magpies began showing evidence of cooperative"rescue" behavior to help each other remove the tracker.
For those of us who study animals, and especially behavior, unpredictability is part of the job description. This is the reason we often require pilot studies., and those that do tend to have very limited capacity for data storage or battery life. They also tend to be single-use only.A novel aspect of our research was the design of the harness that held the tracker. We devised a method that didn't require birds to be caught again to download precious data or reuse the small devices.
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