This condor-looking bird is cool.
Animal Consciousness: Corvids Demonstrate a Sense of Fairness
a pair of biologists at the University of Vienna trained six carrion crows and four ravens to exchange pebble tokens for food. The researchers then created same-species pairs for a series of experiments. When the birds saw their partners getting food for free, without having to exchange tokens, they tended to exchange tokens less often. Sometimes the birds that got the short shrift even gave away tokens, but refused to take their reward. Other research has suggested that a sense of equity evolved several times in unrelated animals, the University of Vienna researchers write. Knowing what’s fair is linked to cooperative behavior in species, they say, and that makes sense with crows and ravens, which form alliances and share food and information.
(via New Study Says Unfairness Really Ruffles Crows’ Feathers | Popular Science)
(via scinerds)
Animals from the Most Diverse Place on Earth
The most biologically diverse place on earth is probably Madidi National Park in northwest Bolivia.
Thousands of birds, butterflies, hundreds of amphibians and almost a dozen species of primates all live in the park.
The environmental impact the park makes is beyond measure, and the conservation of this resource is essential for the survival of some of these beautiful species.
