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Department of Psychology

New research by Dr Gabrielle Davidson and her collaborators, Dr Alex Thornton (Exeter University), and Professor Nicola Clayton, published in the journal Animal behaviour, shows that jackdaws living in the wild are able to recognise individual human faces. The jackdaws were observed to adjust their defensive chick-guarding behaviour depending on whether the individual human face was threatening or neutral. The research also indicates that wild jackdaws have the ability to discern whether a predator is looking directly at them. The findings reveal the cognitive flexibility of these members of the corvid family.

The story is covered in the University's Research News, and has captured the interest of ITV Anglia, who have interviewed Gabrielle about her research. The interview is scheduled to be broadcast on the ITV News Anglia programme, which starts at 6pm on Wednesday 12 August.

To read the original research paper, see: 

Davidson, G. L., Clayton, N. S., & Thornton, A. (2015). Wild jackdaws, Corvus monedula, recognize individual humans and may respond to gaze direction with defensive behaviour. Animal Behaviour, 108, 17–24. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.07.010.

The Cambridge Research News article features on the University of Cambridge website:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/heres-looking-at-you-research-shows-jackdaws-can-recognise-individual-human-faces.

ITV Report:

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-08-12/the-woman-who-wears-terrifying-masks-in-the-fields-of-cambridgeshire-all-in-the-name-of-science.