Ravens know the difference between fair and unfair, according to a new study, and avoid those who act unfairly towards them. Researchers found that the intelligent birds can recognize when a human cheats them of a food reward and will even shun the person for at least a month later. The results of the study are published in the journal Animal Behavior.
The ravens were tested in an experiment of reciprocity. The birds were given a low-quality food item, in this case a lousy piece of bread, and could exchange it with a human for a high-quality food item, a nice piece of delicious cheese. But there was a catch: Some humans tricked the ravens out of any food by taking the lump of bread from the birds and refusing to give them cheese in return, choosing instead to snaffle it in front of them.
Understandably, the ravens were rather affronted by this behavior and felt so cheated that they avoided the people who had tricked them out of the morsel of cheese. The researchers then decided to see just how long this distrust lasted for and tried the experiment again a month later. They found that the ravens who experienced the unfair exchange remembered and thus preferred to do dealings with people who had held up their end of the bargain.
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