Is Learning Involved in Predator Recognition? A Preliminary Study of the Australian Magpie 'Gymnorhina tibicen'

Four groups of Australian Magpies 'Gymnorhina tibicen' were presented with two model snakes (one naturalistic and the other conspicuous in colouring). The Magpies' responses were scored, and the responses of the adults and juveniles were compared. Each group was also presented with a model Magpie to test whether territorial 'intrusions' of a familiar stimulus resulted in similar responses or whether a model of a potential predator was treated differently. The responses of the Magpies to the model Magpie were distinctly different from those to the model snakes: there was little change in the number of foraging events during the presentation of the model Magpie but foraging ceased almost completely when the snake stimuli were presented. The results also showed that responses to the snake stimuli differed between adults and juveniles: adults were more likely to retreat whereas juveniles tended to approach the stimuli, which suggests that learning may be involved in anti-predator responses to snakes.