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The Magic of Bird Brains
- tomalbrc 3y agohttps://archive.ph/w8s6e https://archive.ph/w8s6e
- PlunderBunny 3y agoNew Zealand Kea are notoriously smart - they can work together to solve problems, and even seem to have something akin to laughter: https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/90639503/kea-are-smarter-and-more-playful-than-previously-thought-research-shows https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/90639503/kea-are-smarter...
- the_shivers 3y agoDisappointing to see the various crow garbage vending machines not pan out. I wonder of it's actually impossible or if it's just been poorly executed.
- nicklecompte 3y ago> Mollaret seemed to think that, because crows are smart, their behavior should be predictable and programmable—even if his own behavior wasn’t. He was treating ecology like a subset of mechanics, as though the crows themselves could be turned into cogs in a machine. In particular it's hard to get a crow to do tedious, boring chores for some almonds or whatever when they know there's relatively fresh pizza in a dumpster 2 blocks down the street.
- Swizec 3y ago> In particular it's hard to get a crow to do tedious, boring chores for some almonds or whatever when they know there's relatively fresh pizza in a dumpster 2 blocks down the street. I have the same problem with my parrot. He’s too smart and unlike dogs has zero desire to please. If he doesn’t like the trick you’re teaching him, or it’s taking too long, he’ll just fly to the nearest food bowl and help himself. He even knows where the treats are and will get them himself if you’re taking too long. On the other hand, he actively prefers treats in foraging boxes. He’ll fly to his treat bag, get your attention, then fly to a foraging puzzle and indicate “yo put that shit in here”. They love foraging.
- yareally 3y agoThat sounds about right. You wouldn't happen have a Green Cheek Conure, would you?
- bagels 3y agoMy first thought was that if they are smart enough to trade for food, they're also smart enough not to.
- Solvency 3y agoOut in California, living near massive crow populations is a plus, because they terrorize the hell out of the hawks would otherwise mercilessly pick off your backyard chickens. It's truly impressive stuff, watching the crows coordinate comms and attacks from massive distances over a single hawk in the area.
- hinkley 3y agoIt does mean more rats though.
- Razengan 3y agoDoes the solution mean more cats?
- saagarjha 3y agoBut then your chickens are in danger again.
- Solvency 3y agoI have two cats and there are at least 5 "working" feral cats from around the neighborhood that come through my yard all of the time. None of them, even the largest, have ever posed a single threat (or even interest) in my fully grown chickens. Chicks, on the other hand... but that's why chicks aren't free ranging.
- rybosworld 3y agoYeah I've never seen a domestic cat go for an adult chicken. They've always coexisted peacefully in my experience. They are symbiotic to some degree. Chickens can attract mice by virtue of how messy they are (throwing feed everywhere). Cats eat mice. Ecosystem balanced. Also, an adult (egg-laying) chicken will weigh close to what a cat weighs. Cats have a plentitude of much easier prey. Chicks would be fair game, but most people are raising chicks in an incubator setting. (Chickens are not great mothers, and you'll have a lot of attrition even in the absence of predators.)
- KineticLensman 3y agoNot a lot about bird brains in general, instead discussion of some informal experimentation with urban crows. I volunteer at a raptor conservation centre and have been impressed by the behaviours of the different birds, and the degree of mentation that is going on (or not). The smartest birds I met there were Caracaras [0] which could be trained to do various tricks, including carrying objects from one place to another, and could solve simple puzzles. Perhaps surprisingly, given their reputation for being wise, owls were some of the least intelligent, partly because their skulls have so much space occupied by their eyes compared with diurnal birds. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracara_(genus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracara_(genus)
- tech_ken 3y agoAny reading recs for actual info on bird brains?
- tokai 3y agoOlkowicz, et al. (2016) Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1517131113 https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1517131113
- KineticLensman 3y agoSorry, nothing specific. A while ago I read 'Bird Sense' by Tim Birkhead but this is about their sensory systems rather than their intelligence as such, and is a bit discursive. There are a couple of useful starting points on Wikipedia, such as [0] and [1]. In general, birds are sometimes surprisingly different to mammals. Their eyes are quite different. For example, raptor vision has a much higher acuity and framerate than ours, and many birds do different things with their left and right eyes. Their respiration is also different (including lungs that have 'in' and 'out' pipes), which allows something like a falcon to eat the moment it has finished hunting, unlike say a cheetah, which has to get its breath back before eating after a successful chase. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_brain [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_intelligence
- anemoknee 3y agoJennifer Ackerman's The Genius of Birds is a great read on this subject. https://www.jenniferackermanauthor.com/genius-ofbirds https://www.jenniferackermanauthor.com/genius-ofbirds
- strangattractor 3y agoMay I suggest the book "Mind of the Raven" by Bernd Heinrich. Excellently written and extremely interesting. He has spent a life time studying animal behavior in particular Corvidae. "Bernd Heinrich is a biologist and author of numerous books on the natural world. He lives in Richmond, VT, and in a cabin in the forests of western Maine." https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Raven-Investigations-Adventures-Wolf-Birds/dp/0061136050 https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Raven-Investigations-Adventures-...
- vadim_phystech 3y ago[flagged]
- snapcaster 3y agoCan you explain more? I'm not sure what you're arguing against or foreshadowing
- gwern 3y agoThe quote at the end from Eiseley is more interesting than it sounds: https://www.101bananas.com/library2/eiseley1.html https://www.101bananas.com/library2/eiseley1.html It's about a crow being terrified to nearly fly into Eiseley's head on an extremely foggy day (where you couldn't see the ground), and Eiseley speculating that the crow inferred that Eiseley, uniquely among humans, had somehow learned to walk in the sky, and was scared of him ever after.
- JosephK 3y agoThat was marvellous. Thank you for sharing.
- joe8756438 3y agoI raise geese. Had no idea, before I started, how interesting and varied their behaviors are. They are very intelligent, it seems like a lot of their brainpower goes toward their social interactions. Of course, individually they have distinct personalities, they have a group dynamic, and they also make specific friendships (apart from their mating partners). Also their relationship with me and other people that care for them — they know and behave differently according to who’s around. I’m documenting my observations on one breed called the cotton patch goose [1]. At some point I’ll put together a more comprehensive report. 1. https://hedgerider.substack.com/p/the-cotton-patch-goose https://hedgerider.substack.com/p/the-cotton-patch-goose