Neurophilosophy has a good post on bird intelligence:

In the English language, the term "bird brain" is often used in reference to intellectually challenged individuals. This is, of course, based on the notion that birds are dim-witted creatures whose behaviour is largely based on instinct. The main assumption is that a six-layered neocortex, like that of humans, is a prerequisite for anything that might be classed as intelligent, and even ornithologists have generally believed that, because they have a "smooth" brain, birds aren't too clever. However, it has in recent years become clear that we have grossly underestimated the cognitive abilities of birds. Some of the behaviours observed in birds are just as complex, if not more so, than those seen in non-human primates – and "birdbrain" no longer seems so much of an insult.

If, following Stephen Jay Gould's though experiment, we re-ran the tape of life, so that birds, not mammals, became the dominant form of terrestrial life. Is it possible that human-like intelligence could have evolved in feathered birds instead of in hairy primates? I don't know, but it doesn't seem like a long shot.

I've put a small video of a crow making a hook out of a piece of wire, then using it to fish out food, below the fold. Check out the post at Neurophilosophy for more.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 7:14 am and is filed under Biology, Front-loading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. The trackback link is: http://telicthoughts.com/intelligent-birds/trackback/