Magpies are an intelligent, social, self-aware species capable of reasoning, strategy, foresight, altruism, and other behaviors not previously associated with birds. They also play a mean game of hide-and-seek.
Lots of animals stalk and ambush one another during play, but magpies actually play hide-and-seek the same way we do. They take turns concealing themselves, peek out from their hiding places, and call out to their companion when they are ready to be found.
Being able to play hide-and-seek suggests (along with other magpie behaviors) that magpies have a “theory of mind,” which is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. It allows a human or nonhuman animal to recognize its mind as separate from other minds and to understand that others have their own mental states, such as intentions, beliefs, knowledge, desires, and perspectives. Theory of mind is also called “perspective taking” because it involves imagining the perspective of another. In order to play hide-and-seek, one needs to understand the intentions (she is trying to find me) of another.
In her book, Bird Minds: Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Bird, ornithologist Gisela Kaplan describes young magpies playing hide-and-seek in a way that is truly indistinguishable from the way children play the game. Prepare to be delighted. . .
The first juvenile ran as fast as its legs would carry it and sought out some scrub and then hid behind the first tree or rock and then peeped to see whether the other juvenile followed. If not, it called briefly and if nothing happened, it showed itself again partially by stepping sideways or by bobbing up its head behind the barrier. As the season progressed, the birds got better at finding one another. After a month of playing, I noticed that the hider no longer bobbed up or showed itself in its hiding spot but the seekers were also no longer running and searching but quietly and carefully stalking, slowly and silently approaching he hiding spot and then pouncing on the totally hidden bird. Both or all three tended to shriek when contact was made and the seeker usually pounced on the hider and a play fight would ensue.
