caa a22 4500 605541817 CHVBK 20210128100918.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10071-014-0794-4 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10071-014-0794-4 ‘The thieving magpie'? No evidence for attraction to shiny objects [Elektronische Daten] [T. Shephard, S. Lea, N. Hempel de Ibarra] It is widely accepted in European culture that magpies (Pica pica) are unconditionally attracted to shiny objects and routinely steal small trinkets such as jewellery, almost as a compulsion. Despite the long history of this folklore, published accounts of magpies collecting shiny objects are rare and empirical evidence for the behaviour is lacking. The latter is surprising considering that an attraction to bright objects is well documented in some bird species. The present study aims to clarify whether magpies show greater attraction to shiny objects than non-shiny objects when presented at the same time. We did not find evidence of an unconditional attraction to shiny objects in either captive or free-living birds. Instead, all objects elicited responses indicating neophobia in free-living birds. We suggest that humans notice when magpies occasionally pick up shiny objects because they believe the birds find them attractive, while it goes unnoticed when magpies interact with less eye-catching items. The folklore may therefore result from observation bias and cultural inflation of orally transmitted episodic events. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Corvid nationallicence Object attraction nationallicence Magpie nationallicence Neophobia nationallicence Nest ornamentation nationallicence Shephard T. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut Lea S. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut Hempel de Ibarra N. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut Animal Cognition Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/1(2015-01-01), 393-397 1435-9448 18:1<393 2015 18 10071 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0794-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 brief-communication jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0794-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Shephard T. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lea S. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hempel de Ibarra N. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Perry Road, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Animal Cognition Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/1(2015-01-01), 393-397 1435-9448 18:1<393 2015 18 10071