Brigham Young University's (BYU) <a href="https://pws.byu.edu/wildlife-ecology" alt="Ecology Research Lab" class="on">Ecology Research Lab</a> has found another case of "animals are smarter than you think": elks in Utah have learned to know when hunting season starts and <a href="https://news.byu.edu/intellect/state-funded-byu-study-finds-elk-are-too-smart-for-their-own-good-and-the-good-of-the-state">move to avoid being hunted</a>.In particular, these elks are moving from public lands, where they can be hunted, to private lands, where they cannot be hunted. Incredibly, once hunting season ends, these elks return to public lands.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources worries that this behaviour can disrupt farm operations, as elks have been seen to steal food from livestock grazing on private lands. Utah has since given out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNXThA5vOEo" alt="private-land hunting permits for elk" class="on">private-land hunting permits for elk</a>. Hunters can now coordinate with private landowners to manage elk populations in private lands.#elk #hunting #animalbehaviour #populationmanagementVideo and screenshot source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNXThA5vOEo">KSL Outdoors</a>​

Wild Elks in Utah Have Figured Out How to Avoid Being Hunted

In ethology, or the study of animal behaviour, unpredictability is part of the job. Scientists who had been testing a new tracking device during a pilot study on the movement and social dynamics of Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) received a pleasant surprise—they found out that the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device/100851458" alt="magpies had helped remove each other's trackers" class="on">magpies had helped remove each other's trackers</a>.

The pilot study involved five Australian magpies. The new tracker, shown in the image above, weighed less than a gram each. The scientists trained the magpies to come to an outdoor feeding "station" that could wirelessly charge the tracker's battery, download data, or release the tracker and harness all by using a magnet.The process is shown below.

Scientists were surprised when, within ten minutes of fitting the final tracker, one of the adult female magpies had tried to remove the harness off a younger bird with her bill. Hours later, most of the trackers had been removed. The dominant male had his tracker removed within three days.The study was published in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247">Australian Field Ornithology</a>.#Magpie #Bird #TrackingDevice #AnimalBehaviourImage source:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247" class="on">Dominique Potvin in&nbsp;Australian Field Ornithology</a>