Drongo

This creature has the greatest deceptive abilities in the animal kingdom, unless you count humans. The fork-tailed drongo's ability to lie and manipulate other species into doing what they want is nothing short of stunning, and their intelligence is absolutely unbelievable. Today, we learn about why humans lie, why it is usually wrong, and why Darwin might disagree. We address questions, such as:

 

Do drongos possess a theory of mind? 

Should I skip school and pretend to be sick? 

Why do meerkats keep falling for the drongo's trickery?

Could drongos be doing this on autopilot? 

Do 8-year-olds lie more often than 3-year-olds? 

Are "white lies" a myth? 

 

Learn about all the magnificent trickery of the drongo, and the nature of human dishonesty, on this episode of Species. 

 

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-SWKFVL_iQ8k6lKW_AUyK1UccqH2kqLyEGfZzu5o8Ok/edit?usp=sharing