The Australian Magpie can remove tracking devices placed on their legs, with help from another magpie. Ornithology is the study of birds and bird behaviour. In a study published in February 2022 in the scientific journal, Australian Field Ornithology, the researchers described Australian Magpies helping each other to remove their tracking devices that the researchers had placed on their legs.
The Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a black and white bird in the Artamidae family of butcherbirds. It is not related to the Eurasian or European Magpie (Pica pica) in the Corvidae family of crows. The Australian Magpie is widespread across Australia.
In 2019, animal ecologist Dr. Dominique Potvin and her team of researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, wanted to study magpie social behaviour because they are highly social birds. Social animals, including social birds, are creatures of the same species that live together in family groups, with their own set of behaviour rules, usually with a hierarchy, or order, of interactions.
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