We are delighted to announce that due to a number of generous donations from both members of the public and the scientific community, together with support from the University of Cambridge, we are able to keep the corvid aviaries at Madingley open for a further five years.
The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, J is for Jay – a surprisingly clever corvid with the ability to mimic human voices and much more.
New research shows that male jays are able to disengage from their own current desires to feed their female partner food that she wants.
Researchers in Cambridge and Exeter have discovered that jackdaws use their eyes to communicate with each other – the first time this has been shown in non-primates.
Eurasian jays change strategies to prevent others from stealing food and to improve their chances of absconding with other birds’ caches.
An innovative dance performance with creative input from Professor Nicky Clayton, a expert on bird cognition, goes on tour this week. The Rambert Dance Company's newest production - Seven for a Secret, Never to be Told - is an exploration of childhood inspired by the age-old nursery rhyme about magpies and informed by science.
Nicola Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition, has collaborated with the world-famous Rambert Dance Company to produce a contemporary dance based on the works of Charles Darwin. In the video highlighted below, she discusses the scientific inspirations behind the contemporary ballet piece, The Comedy of Change.
Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Experimental Psychology, has thrown the doors wide open on animal cognition. Where once the idea would have been dismissed that animals can re-experience the past and plan for the future, her imaginative studies have shown this inherent cleverness in crows.
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