Saturday, April 14, 2012
Good Morning, Mr. Magpie
How are we today?
Magpies are everywhere in town. The European magpie is very intelligent, and is one of the only animals that passes the mirror test. I assume the Korean magpie (what I understand to be the subspecies that we have here) is every bit as smart.
I have always known a magpie was a bird, but I have never lived in a place with magpies, so I never saw them growing up. Since visiting Europe, I have always known about those large black-and-white birds (Elster in German). But I never put together the word 'magpie' with the thing 'magpie.' Of course, in Chinese, there is a third thing -- the character for magpie.
Magpies are everywhere in town. The European magpie is very intelligent, and is one of the only animals that passes the mirror test. I assume the Korean magpie (what I understand to be the subspecies that we have here) is every bit as smart.
I have always known a magpie was a bird, but I have never lived in a place with magpies, so I never saw them growing up. Since visiting Europe, I have always known about those large black-and-white birds (Elster in German). But I never put together the word 'magpie' with the thing 'magpie.' Of course, in Chinese, there is a third thing -- the character for magpie.
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