Australian Magpies Strip 5 GPS Trackers Within Days, Derailing Queensland Study

1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 10

Five Australian magpies in Queensland removed all fitted GPS trackers within minutes to days, wiping out a pilot study meant to map their movements and social ties.
One untagged adult female freed a juvenile in about 10 minutes and within an hour of fitting, while another adult helped a second tagged bird on a powerline.
The 2.7-gram tracker-and-harness setup had passed strength tests and included a weak point for magnet-triggered release, but that safety feature appears to have become the birds’ target.
Researchers directly observed four magpies joining removal attempts, calling the behavior cooperative problem-solving, though the five-bird pilot could not prove altruism or how often such help occurs.
The failed trial still exposed a key fieldwork limit: in highly social species, a durable tag in the lab can quickly become a group problem to solve in the wild.