Most animals have decision-making capability and are capable of certain behaviors that, when noted, are derisively categorized as anthropomorphic when in actuality, aren’t, in my opinion.
I am, and have been for years, and avid observer of Blue Jay behavior, and I can uncategorically declare they they are “greedy”.
I have been feeding them peanuts in the shell for years, and their behaviors surrounding peanuts, which they cannot resist, are both hilarious and telling.
They will often try to fit a whole peanut into a space in their throat called a “gular pouch” so that they can store that one and take an extra peanut away with them in their beak as they flee to cache it somewhere. And they will go to great lengths to try, even to the point you conclude it is an impossible task or they will asphyxiate themselves doing it.
They have an insatiable greed for peanuts. If you throw two peanuts on the ground that are of obviously different size, it will unerringly take the larger one. That is unsurprising.
But if you throw two peanuts out at the same time that are inches apart, the Blue Jay, even at a risk of being taken by a predator, will pick up a peanut, gauge its size, drop it, pick up the other one, and I have counted a Blue Jay do this five times in rapid succession.
And if you throw out a small peanut, then throw out a larger peanut, even if they have flown away to a nearby branch, will fly back to drop the smaller one for the larger one.
I watched one as I threw out a larger peanut than the one it picked up, and with an absolutely dismissive action (that if I I could have heard it would have included a dismissive “PAH!”) where is turned its head to the side, all the while keeping its eye on the newer, larger peanut and SPIT the smaller peanut out of its beak before flying over to grab the larger one!
Absolutely. I have cats. I’ve seen them act with concern for fellow kitties, I’ve seen love, hate, revenge. You can see the wheels turning in their little heads & know what they’re going to do next. They think, they make plans.
They are too funny to watch. I can’t wait for someone to invent a Universal Translator, so we can sit & have a chat.