Birds also plan ahead
humans alone are not blessed with the faculty to plan ahead. So are some birds. At least that's what recent research by Cambridge University scientists suggests. Foresight, a report in Nature (Vol 445, No 7130) says, is a trait of the scrub-jays, a species of the corvid class of birds that meticulously plans ahead.
In two experiments on scrub-jays, the birds were kept in two-room cages. They were allowed to move around. In the first experiment the birds were fed ground pine nuts, which they cannot store, and peanuts and dog kibble, which they can.
They got all three for breakfast in one room and thrown off routine with an unexpected evening meal in the other. The researchers found they stored more food from an evening meal in the room where they were usually not fed as compared to when they got the night treat in the "breakfast room'.
The team led by Nicola Clayton reported this was an indication of the birds