City birds smarter than their rural counterparts

Birds living in urban areas are smarter than those living in the rural areas, according to a team of researchers from McGill University. In this first-ever study to find cognitive differences in birds from city and country, the researchers tested two groups of bullfinches on associative learning tasks and innovative problem-solving tasks. They found that there were remarkable differences in problem-solving abilities such as opening drawers to access food, and temperament with city birds outdoing the birds from the countryside on innovation and problem solving. According to the researcher the main reason underlying these differences is the fact that the urban environment allows for the birds to explore and exploit new resources, giving them an edge over their rural counterparts. Moreover, the city birds were found to have a better immunity than those belonging to the countryside.

Read more in Science Daily.