Mirror test shows magpies aren’t so bird-brained:
In humans, the ability to recognise oneself in a mirror develops around the age of 18 months and coincides with the first signs of social behaviour. So-called “mirror mark tests”, where a mark is placed on the animal in such a way that it can only be observed when it looks at its reflection, have been used to sort the self-aware beasts from the rest.Of hundreds tested, in addition to humans, only four apes, bottlenose dolphins and Asian elephants have passed muster.
Helmut Prior at Goethe University in Frankfurt and his colleagues applied a red, yellow or black spot to a place on the necks of five magpies. The stickers could only be seen using a mirror. Then he gave the birds mirrors.
The feel of the mark on their necks did not seem to alarm them. But when the birds with coloured neck spots caught a glimpse of themselves, they scratched at their necks — a clear indication that they recognised the image in the mirror as their own. Those who received a black sticker, invisible against the black neck feathers, did not react.
Self-recognition was thought to reside in the neocortex, but birds don’t have one.
Self-recognition in birds and mammals may thus be a case of convergent evolution.