Ducklings are much smarter than you think, study finds
by Brett Smith
Researchers from the University of Oxford revealed ducklings can understand the concepts of 'same' and 'different', a capability only observed in intelligent animals like primates, crows, and parrots.
Young animals typically learn to identify and follow their mother through a kind of learning known as imprinting, which can take place in less than 15 minutes after hatching. Imprinting is a potent kind of learning that helps ducklings to follow any moving object, provided they see it inside the 'sensitive period' for imprinting.
Imprinting on a Strange Object
In this new study, published in the journal Science, hatchlings were shown a pair of items moving in a circular path that were either the same as or different from each other, in form or in color. This was designed to 'imprint' these pairs of moving items on the ducks.
Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113415023/ducklings-intelligence-071416/
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