A discovery made in Antarctica two years ago has me wondering if this large predatory seabird is as smart as a crow.

The Antarctic or brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) breeds on barren ground in Antarctica and spends its life at sea where it uses brute force to harass other seabirds and steal their food.

Brown skuas live so far away from people that, except for a few Antarctic research stations, they almost never encounter humans.  Scientists were therefore surprised when brown skuas on King George’s Island (below) began to recognize them as individuals.

It all started when the Korea Polar Research Institute began studying nesting brown skuas by banding their young at the nest.  Only a couple of scientists regularly visited the nests but with each successive visit the skuas ramped up their attacks and responded from further away as the men approached.

The skuas didn’t attack everyone. They seemed to ignore people who never came to their nests. Did the birds recognize individual humans?  The scientists ran some experiments.

As shown in the video below, two scientists approached the skuas and their nest. One is a nest-intruder, the other has never bothered skua nests. The skua pair flew up to attack the humans, but when the two went separate ways the skuas only pursued the person they hate.

Brown skuas can recognize individual humans that cause them trouble.  Crows can do it, too. Are Antarctic skuas as smart as crows?

 

Read more about the skuas here in Discover Magazine.  Read about crows recognizing our faces at this link.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; map location of King George’s Island from Google Maps; click on the captions to see the originals)