U. WASHINGTON (US) — New electronic tags are the first to detect when birds meet in the wild, even when no humans are nearby, and are helping scientists study crows’ “social networks.”
A new study led by a biologist at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews used the tags to see whether crows might learn to use tools from one another. The findings, published last week in Current Biology, supported the theory by showing an unexpected amount of social mobility, with the crows often spending time near birds outside their immediate family.