Mockingbirds Can Hold A Grudge!

Biologists discovered that birds which live in urban areas have the ability of recognising people who posed a threat to them previously.

Mockingbirds can remember people who threatened them before and can attack them if they spot them, scientists proved in a study, Guardian writes.

The urban bird population ignored most passers-by, but were excited when they recognised people who previously approached their nest and started circling over their heads.

The unusual behaviour of mockingbirds is considered to prove that wild animals recognise individuals of other species in their natural habitat.

Boirds know us better than we know them

- We tend to view all mockingbirds as equal, but the feeling is not mutual – Doug Levy said, Biology professor at Florida University, who headed the study.

The results offer an explanation why certain animals can survive better in big cities than others can.

- The real puzzle in the field of urban ecology is to figure out why certain species thrive around humans – Levy said. The only explanation is that the more successful species have an innate ability which allows them to fit in in an urban environment better.

Mockingbirds are one of the most frequent species which nest next to the Gainesville campus.

In a research, conducted last spring and summer during the nesting season, volunteers approached the nests and gently touched the edges. The same individuals repeated this for three days. On the fifth day, various volunteers approached the nest.

Only two bad experiences were enough

By the end of the study, 10 volunteers touched 24 nests and the persons wore different clothes every time and took a different direction to the nest.

The mockingbirds recognised the individuals after only two bad experiences and professor Levy believes this is a rare thing for birds. Pigeons, for example, require a lot of training to recognise different people.

- Sixty seconds of exposure was all it took for mockingbirds to learn to identify different individuals and pick them out of all other students on campus – Levy said.

- We don`t believe mockingbirds evolved an ability to distinguish between humans. Mockingbirds and humans haven`t been living in close association long enough for that to occur. We think instead that our experiments reveal an underlying ability to be incredibly perceptive of everything around them, and to respond appropriately when the stakes are high - Levy said.