They say an elephant never forgets , although Modern research propose the same may be true of some south-polar birds , which plainly have the ability to spot the faces of humans they have encounter in the past , set on those who they feel have wronged them . This capability is specially noteworthy yield the fact that these boo survive in a region that is virtually free of human bodily function , making the possibility of having evolved the power to recognise multitude highly improbable .
Antarctic skuas living on King George Island , just off the Antarctic Peninsula , likely encountered man for the first time at some point in the last 60 years , during which menstruum scientific expeditions to the southernmost continent have become more and more usual . Among the late people to have interacted with this finical universe of birds are researchers from a collaboration of Korean institutions , who account in the journalAnimal Cognitionthat the skuas quickly learned to key which members of the team had intruded on their nests .
The squad had been station on the island in rescript to supervise the development of the skuas ’ eggs and doll during the annual hatch period . However , after mark that the birds became progressively aggressive towards research worker that made repeat visits to their nest , the scientists decide to typeset up an experimentation to specify whether or not their feathered hosts could really discriminate between case-by-case humans .
To do so , the investigator visited the skua in pairs consisting of one “ trespasser ” who had antecedently accessed the nest , and one “ neutral ” somebody who had not . To make things harder for the chick , both team members dressed identically .
surprisingly , they found the birds always attack the interloper and never showed any interest in the neutral somebody , suggesting that they tell apart which humans had previously disturbed their nest and felt compel to endeavor to fend these mortal off . Since they could not have used article of clothing to tell the two apart , it is likely that they key each someone by their face .
This conclusion is backed up by the fact that the breezy Antarctic conditions make it hard to pick up odor , so it is unlikely that the skua used olfactory signals to identify intruder . what is more , previous studies have shown that crows also apparentlyrecognize the facesof private humans , suggesting that Bronx cheer withhigh noesis levelscan indeed tell the great unwashed apart in this means .
As such , the study authors conclude that the skuas ’ ability to discriminate between people is indicative of similarly high cognitive abilities . While some less intelligent species have been designate to get the power torecognize peopleas repeated exposure leads to familiarity , this typically requires many frequent face-off , yet the skuas apparently remembered each research worker after just a few intrusions on their nest .
Further grounds of the profoundness of Antarctic skuas can be found in their highly adaptive feeding behaviors . For instance , they have been observed lift food from other Bronx cheer and even stealing Milk River from breast feeding elephant seal , suggest a level of innovation that borders on cunning .
Summing up these findings in astatement , survey coauthor Won Young Lee said “ it is awe-inspiring that brown bonxie , which evolved and lived in human - costless habitats , recognized individual humans just after three or four visits . It seems that they have very mellow level of cognitive abilities . ”
