Have you heard of the 'mirror and mark' test?  Magpies haven't - but they pass anyway...

The test requires that a mark is put on the test subject where they can't see it.  New research by Helmut Prior (Goethe-University, Frankfurt a.M.) with Ariane Schwarz and Onur Güntürkün (Ruhr-University Bochum) used the mirror-mark test with magpies - producing some extraordinary results - the birds knew who they were!

Two groups of birds were subjects of the experiment.  One set had a visible yellow dot placed on their throats - and the other, a black dot which was nearly impossible to spot.  Both groups were observed when they were placed in front of a mirror.  The magpies to which the dark spot was applied showed normal magpie behaviour - however, when those with the yellow dots spotted their own reflection, they attempted to fuss about with the yellow dot.  This, assert the research team, is evidence that magpies recognise that their image in the mirror is a reflection of their own body: they have passed the mirror and mark test and are self-aware.

Prior to these new findings self-recognition had only been shown to exist in chimpanzees, orang-utans, elephants and dolphins: all mammals.  It was widely believed that a structure in mamallian brains, the neocortex was necesssary for complex thinking and self-awareness.  Not only is the requirement for all creatures who exhibit self-awareness to have a neocortex now disproven - but a new theory will have to account for how self-awareness emerges in the brains of birds which have a different evolutionary history than mammals.

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