Kids’ desert punishment Quick little learners

LOS ANGELES A mother accused of leaving her three children in a California desert without shoes or water as a punishment for misbehaviour is facing child abuse charges.

The children, a 7-yearold girl and two boys aged 5 and 6, were found at the edge of Twentynine Palms, a small city in the southern Mojave Desert that serves as a training base for the United States Marines, when the temperature was about 32 degrees C.

John McMahon, sheriff of San Bernardino County, said their mother, Mary Bell, 34, and her boyfriend, Gary Cassle, 29, ‘‘left the three children by themselves in the desert, for disciplinary purposes’’.

Bell and Cassle were found about 1.6km away in a car on the other side of the patch of scrubland. The family of five were said to be homeless and living in the car. The Times LONDON Maybe calling someone a birdbrain shouldn’t be an insult.

Newly hatched ducklings surprised scientists by showing the capacity to understand the concepts of ‘‘same’’ and ‘‘different’’ – an ability previously known only in more intelligent animals such as apes, crows and parrots, according to a study published in the journal Science.

Ducklings usually learn through a process called ‘‘imprinting,’’ which can occur as little as 15 minutes after hatching and can allow them to follow any moving object.

The study marked the first time an animal, including apes, had learned such concepts without reinforcement, said Antone Martinho, a doctoral student at Britain’s University of Oxford Department of Zoology and the study’s lead author. USA Today