Australian researchers fitted five magpies with GPS trackers to map their movements, but the birds began removing one another’s harnesses within minutes, turning a failed trial into an unexpected obse
Australian researchers studying magpie social behavior discovered that the birds were actively removing GPS tracking harnesses from one another. The failed experiment provided unexpected insights into the birds' cooperative social intelligence.
Why it matters
Illustrates the complexity of animal social structures and the challenges of conducting field research on highly intelligent species.
When researchers tried to track Australian magpies, the birds turned the tables—systematically removing each other's harnesses and revealing something far more interesting than GPS coordinates.
Researchers in Queensland fitted five Australian magpies with tiny GPS trackers, hoping to map their movements and social relationships. The flock had other plans.
Within about ten minutes, an untagged adult female was using her bill to work at the harness on a juvenile. The tracker came off. Nearby, another magpie was helping a second tagged bird on a powerline. Devices that had been designed to stay attached for weeks disappeared within minutes to days.
I like this story partly because it resists the tidy distinction between a successful experiment and a failed one. The researchers lost the movement data they went looking for, but the birds produced an observation nobody had planned.
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