Like humans, birds too can interpret looks and gestures

Washington, Apr 8 (ANI): Think birds are just some "high-flying, cute looking" species? Well, it's time you jiggle your thinking and respect their mental abilities, for a new study has found that jackdaws can interpret looks and gestures in the same way as humans.

According to a study reported online on April 2nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, jackdaws-birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes-can change their behaviour when someone is looking their way.

"Jackdaws seem to recognize the eye''s role in visual perception, or at the very least they are extremely sensitive to the way that human eyes are oriented," said Auguste von Bayern, formerly of the University of Cambridge and now at the University of Oxford.

When presented with a preferred food, hand-raised jackdaws took significantly longer to retrieve the reward when a person was directing his eyes towards the food than when he was looking away, according to the research team led by Nathan Emery of the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London.

The birds hesitated only when the person in question was unfamiliar and thus potentially threatening.

In addition, the birds were able to interpret human communicative gestures, such as gaze alternation and pointing, to help them find hidden food, they found. The birds were unsuccessful in using static cues, including eye gaze or head orientation, in that context.

Unlike most birds, jackdaws'' eyes have a dark pupil surrounded by a silvery white iris. The researchers said they believe jackdaws are probably sensitive to human eyes because, as in humans, eyes are an important means of communication for them.

The hand-raised birds examined in the study may be even better than wild jackdaws at attending to human gaze and responding to the gestures of the people who have raised them.

The results suggest that birds may deserve more respect for their mental abilities.

"We may have underestimated the psychological realms of birds," von Bayern said.

"Jackdaws, amongst many other birds, form pair bonds for life and need to closely coordinate and collaborate with their partner, which requires an efficient way of communicating and sensitivity to their partner''s perspective," the expert added. (ANI)