Modern cityscapes could be turning birds into better problem solvers, study suggests

A new study has concluded that modern cityscapes have been possibly changing birds into better problem solvers compared to their counterparts living in the wild or rural regions. Published recently in Behavioral Ecology, the McGill University research paper discovered that city birds studied by researchers were dissimilar to their rural counterparts in a number of ways.

In a statement, first author Jean-Nicolas Audet, a PhD candidate at McGill, said, “We found that not only were birds from urbanized areas better at innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural environments, but that surprisingly urban birds also had a better immunity than rural birds”.

During the study, Audet along with his colleagues tested 53 bullfinches that belonged to different areas of Barbados. The idea came to his mind after he was tormented by bold city birds who wanted to snatch his food at a local restaurant.

While speaking to CBC News, Audet said that Barbados bullfinch always have an eye on you and never leave a chance to steal your sandwich.

The research team studied the difference between a bold city bruiser and a demure country bird. Cognitive tests suggested that the city birds were actually bolder by some measures and were better at solving issues, like they knew how to get food placed within jars or drawers, for instance.

There was no difference between both the birds in terms of differentiating between dishes with different colors. City birds were, in fact, more cautious about getting food from strange objects nearby as compared to their rural cousins.

However, to everybody’s surprise, there was another area where they came out ahead. City birds had stronger immune systems. According to Audet and his colleagues, it could make sense for better cognitive abilities to be linked with weaker immune systems, as the birds don’t possess unlimited resources for fueling their brains and bodies. However, apparently city birds can actually have it all.