Once simply known as the fish most likely to turn up in the net of pond-dippers, the stickleback is now known to have a "human" ability to learn. Research carried out at Durham University found that the nine-spined stickleback, a fish common across Europe, compares the behaviour of other sticklebacks with its own and then makes choices that lead to better access to food supplies. The research, published in the journal Behavioural Ecology, concludes that big brains are not necessarily needed for certain cognitive abilities.
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