In homes across the country, cupboards and high shelves are being pressed into service as secret stores, where small parcels of joy are being accumulated in preparation for Christmas or Hanukkah.
The essence of hiding something is a social not a practical problem. It doesn’t matter where you put a present as long as the eventual recipient doesn’t see you put it there. To succeed in this you’ve got to be very aware of whether or not you’re being observed.
Amazingly, we’re not the only species to navigate this complex domain successfully. Birds from the crow family exhibit ‘caching’ behaviour that uses social cognition, the ability to read the minds of others, to decide when to hide a piece of food for future consumption.
If, by looking at others behaviour, they suspect they’ve been observed they’ll even return later and move the cache to a new location. Some of these birds can hide and then retrieve thousands of items – which would put even the keenest human seasonal gifter to shame. At least for now, wrapping presents is something that we alone have mastered. Some of us, at least.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
