Science experiments don’t always go as planned. 【小题1】. Recently, Australian scientists learned something unexpected about magpies (喜鹊) when they tried to attach trackers to them to learn more about their habits.                                                  

【小题2】. They’re medium-sized black and white birds from the same bird “family” as crows and blue jays. They’re known to be quite clever. They live in groups of up to 12 birds and work together to defend the area they live in.

The researchers were eager to try a new tracker on the magpies. They hoped to learn more about how far the birds flew and what they did during a normal day. But it’s hard to find trackers that work well with small-and medium-sized birds. 【小题3】. The new trackers are light and can be recharged without wires while they are still on the birds.

To keep the trackers on the birds without causing flying problems, the researchers developed a special harness (系带). It was tough, so it wouldn’t come off by accident. 【小题4】. The researchers placed trackers on five magpies. But just ten minutes after setting up the last magpie, they noticed something unusual: an adult female magpie was helping another magpie get free from its harness. A few hours later, most of the other magpies were also freed from their harnesses. By the third day, none of the birds had trackers anymore.

The scientists were disappointed about the trackers. However, they realized that the magpies had taught them something else—【小题5】, even if the bird who is helping doesn’t get a reward.