An Investigation On Cognitive Ability Of Azure-winged Magpies(Cyanopica Cyanus)

Animal cognition and cognitive evolution has long been a difficult problem in the field of animal research.Previous research on animal cognition has focused on primates.More and more research shows that birds and mammals have complex cognitive evolution convergence.Corvids are comparable to apes in many areas,including episodic memory,tool use,and theory of mind.Comparing cognitive processes between birds and mammals and their specific environments may also shed light on how cognition evolved.String-pulling is one of the most widely used paradigms in animal cognition research.We investigated how azure-winged magpies Cyanopica cyanus solve multiple-string problems that they have never encountered before.In Experiment 1,the strings were arranged in parallel,slanted,or crossed to investigate what rules azure-winged magpies use to solve multiple spatial relations of strings.Experiment 2 assessed whether the subjects understood the connection between the string and the bait while taking advantage of broken strings.In Experiment 3,the subjects were confronted with strings of different lengths attached to rewards in order to explore whether the string length,as a proxy for the pulling efficiency or reward distance,was crucial for the birds' choice of which string to pull.Generally,the birds were successful in tasks where the reward was close to the correct string's end,and they relied on a "proximity rule" in most cases.The results showed that azure-winged magpies had a partial understanding of the physical principles underlying the string-pulling but were stumped by complex spatial relations.They likely relied on simple strategies such as the proximity rule to solve the tasks.The effects of individual difference and experiential learning on string-pulling performance are also discussed.Mirror self-recognition(MSR)is considered as a crucial step in the emergence of self-cognition.MSR paradigm has become a standard method to evaluate self-cognition in many species,such as Eurasian magpies and Clark's Nutcrackers passed the mark test for self-cognition while Jungle crows,Jackdaws and New Caledonian crows could not recognize their image in the mirror.However,there is no literature available regarding MSR test on azure-winged magpies,a species of corvids.Therefore,the current research was aimed to investigate the MSR behaviors of azure-winged magpies upon confronting the mirror for the first time.The study included four tests:(1)mirror preference and standardized mirror exploration;(2)single vertical mirror test;(3)mark test;(4)mirror-directed spatial location test.The azure-winged magpies failed to recognize themselves in the mirror,and regarded their images as conspecifics.They displayed immense curiosity to the mirror and their images in the mirror.However,they failed to understand that the bait in the mirror is exactly the same as that in the real world.Subsequent behavior analysis showed no significant difference between marked and un-marked behaviors.To have a better insight into MSR behavior of magpies,research studies involving prolonged mirror exposure and training are recommended.Object permanence is a milestone of human cognitive development.At present,object permanence test has gradually become one of the paradigms to study the level of animal cognition.Magpies,carrion crow,Eurasian jays,ravens and so on have passed the sixth stage of the object permanence test.This study used Uzgiris and Hunt's adaptation of the object permanence test task proposed in 1975 to explore the object permanence development stage of azure-winged magpie sub-adults aged about one year.It turned out that three of the eight subjects were able to pass stage 6 of the object permanency test,and there were A-not-B errors in stage 5.To get a clearer picture of the order in which the objects of the magpies have been permanently developed,subsequent studies can compare the results of different age groups.For the first time,this study investigated the performance of azure-winged magpies in three classic cognitive experiments,namely,string-pulling test,mirror test and object permanence test.As a member of the corvidae family of birds,the azure-winged magpies showed strong exploration ability and learning ability in three tests.This study adds a new species to the cognitive research of corvidae birds and provides evidence for the cognitive research of grey magpie.