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One thing that is remarkable about crows is that they are most likely more intelligent than primates, despite having a much smaller brain. It looks like they ev
by isolli 6y ago
One thing that is remarkable about crows is that they are most likely more intelligent than primates, despite having a much smaller brain. It looks like they evolved high intelligence separately, using different brain circuitry from ours.
- partyboat1586 6y agoImagine what could happen if you scaled up the space efficient crow brain to human size.
- Symmetry 6y agoIt's really sort of weird that a mammal ended up becoming Earth's first technological species. Birds all have the good neuron scaling that in mammals mostly only primates have. They have high energy intensity lifestyles where the extra energy cost of a big brain isn't a insuperable obstacle as with our pursuit hunter ancestors but not most other mammal lifestyles. Also they've got unidirectional rather than tidal lungs which might not be important for intelligence but is really cool. Without the end-Cretaceous meteor we'd probably have had intelligent dinosaurs a long time ago.
- stainforth 6y agoCan you expand more on the significance of the lung style?
- Symmetry 6y agoSo, in tidal breathing air goes into and out of lungs from the same opening. So there tends to be some air at the bottom of the lungs that sticks around and the whole thing could be more efficient. In a bird air enters the lung at one end and leaves from the other so there isn't any stale air that stick around.
- isolli 6y agoAll good points, but the opposable thumb probably played a big role.