Attacks on humans by Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen): Territoriality, brood-defence or testosterone? Warne,RM, Jones,DN and Astheimer,LB 2010, Attacks on humans by Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen): Territoriality, brood-defence or testosterone?, Emu : Austral ornithology, vol. 110, no. 4, pp. 332-338, doi: 10.1071/MU10027. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Attacks on humans by Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen): Territoriality, brood-defence or testosterone? Author(s) Warne,RM Jones,DN Astheimer,LB Journal name Emu : Austral ornithology Volume number 110 Issue number 4 Start page 332 End page 338 Total pages 7 Publisher CSIRO Place of publication Melbourne, Vic. Publication date 2010-11 ISSN 0158-4197 Keyword(s) Wildlife attacks Summary Attacks on humans by Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen) are a significant human-wildlife conflict in Australia, especially in suburban environments. Remarkably little is known about the phenomenon. In this study, we explored three common hypotheses - territoriality, brood-defence and testosterone - as potential and non-exclusive explanations for aggression directed at people by Magpies living in suburban areas of Brisbane, south-eastern Queensland. The response of 10 pairs of aggressive Magpies to natural levels of human intrusion was compared with that of 10 non-aggressive pairs. Behavioural observations strongly supported the contention that attacks on humans resemble brood-defence and did not support an association with territoriality. The study also found no support for the suggestion that testosterone levels correlated with aggressiveness towards humans: male testosterone peaked immediately before laying and was significantly lower during the maximum period of attacks directed at people. Moreover, there were no differences in the testosterone levels of aggressive and non-aggressive male Magpies. The pattern of testosterone production over a breeding cycle closely resembled that of many other songbirds and appeared not to influence Magpie attacks on humans. © Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union 2010. Language eng DOI 10.1071/MU10027 Field of Research 060299 Ecology not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2010, CSIRO Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30067956 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 01 Dec 2014, 13:05:53 EST Mon, 01 Dec 2014, 13:18:53 EST Mon, 01 Dec 2014, 14:07:36 EST Mon, 01 Dec 2014, 14:13:22 EST Thu, 04 Dec 2014, 13:21:21 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 5 times in TR Web of Science Cited 6 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 303 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 01 Dec 2014, 13:05:53 EST