Ducklings Can 'Differentiate' Objects

Ducklings can learn to differentiate between various objects, colors, and shapes. Scientists say that it was previously believed that only monkeys, crows, and parrots had such abilities among animals. According to scientists writing in the Journal of Science, this ability in ducklings is related to the concept of 'imprinting', a powerful learning process through which a duckling follows the behavior of the first adult it sees, usually its mother. In some cases, the duckling may follow the behavior of another caregiver. Alex Kacelnik from the zoology department at Oxford University states that while 'imprinting' may seem very basic and simple, it is actually a complex skill that the bird develops after hatching and starting to walk. He says, 'The duckling must have the ability to recognize its mother, and through this ability, it enters the learning process because each female duck has slight differences.' Mr. Kacelnik adds, 'When you think about it, it is very complex; the mother duck may be elsewhere or flying.' Kacelnik's lab decided to study how this ability could be refined. For this, they showed the ducks objects that demonstrated the concepts of equality and difference. As soon as the ducklings hatched, they either saw two different objects next to them or two identical objects. For example, a duckling was shown two spherical objects, and after a while, a set of objects including a spherical object was shown to it, and the duckling followed the object it had previously encountered. Alex Kacelnik says this shows that this is the only non-human organism that can learn and differentiate between objects without any forced training. Anton Martino, a PhD student in zoology at Oxford, says that when ducks are ducklings, they need to be with their mother for care, and any mistake in correctly identifying who their mother is can be fatal. According to him, this is an unexpected ability for ducks and reminds us that the term 'bird brain' is not fair for someone who does not learn.