Articles like these are tricky. It's an obvious clickbaity thing. Humans knew birds are smart since way before science decided to call itself science. I think

Articles like these are tricky. It's an obvious clickbaity thing. Humans knew birds are smart since way before science decided to call itself science. I think the text plays more on hammering the "nothing makes sense in biology except for the light of evolution" thing than on the roots of intelligence. The purpose and definition of intelligence have always been a critical point in evolutionary biology. No mention of the foxp2 gene and the peculiarities of both human and bird variants? Seems like this would open a point for an opposite conclusion (there is a common root if you consider language part of what constitutes intelligence). In the sixties, birds were girls, cats were boys, and everyone was kind of an asshole. Why should I trust any kind of research that started back then? :) If we're gonna be weirdly anacronistic, let's at least be clear about it. I am more of a 2025 person.