Birds rise in intellectual pecking order

[indigobusiness]

Birds rise in intellectual pecking order

Tim Radford, science editor
Tuesday February 1, 2005
The Guardian

The skylark could be going up in the world. The crow has something to crow about. Scientists could be about to think again about the little grey cells of the grey goose. From now on, a bird's brain may no longer be classed as birdbrained.

Mammals have complex brains, including a neocortex for learning tricks and nerve cells called basal ganglia which control instinctive behaviour.

snip

African grey parrots can use words and numbers correctly in conversation with humans. Pigeons can memorise up to 725 different visual patterns, choose between man-made and "natural" objects and most astonishingly of all, distinguish between Picasso and Monet, and cubism from impressionism.

snip

"Many people have outdated notions of what bird brains are like but there are lots of very smart birds who do amazing things which it would be difficult to get mammals, such as rats or dogs, to carry out," said Tom Smulders, of Newcastle University.

"It's about time that people, not just scientists, appreciated birds for what they are - a group of species which has independently evolved brains and cognitive abilities comparable to those of mammals."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2C3604%2C1402891%2C00.html

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Alex -- the African Grey Parrot

do a google -- this is an amazing bird-- and he does understand the words he uses.

[indigobusiness]

4. I've watched the studies involving Alex for years.

They have confirmed my assertions that the cognitive abilities of birds were far superior than Science recognized. Alex is my hero.

I have had an African Grey, a Moluccan Cockatoo, and several other parrots. Some of the things they came up with was unbelievably clever and outrageously funny.

[Warpy]

5. They've put them together into new sentences

They're pretty amazing little birdies.

Check out Mark Morford's colunm on them.

[Skip Intro]

2. its not just birds - animals are smart and aware - perfect example of why

animal rights is important, and why slaughter that disregards this is inhumane.

Sorry, don't mean to turn this into a PETA thread, I know how the bashers are always ready, but this story is a perfect example of why animals shouldn't be treated as so much barrells of oil, but more as fellow creatures with whom we share this planet.

[1monster]

3. A bird asks, "What's going on?"

http://www.staugustine.com/cgi-bin/smart_search/cqcgi/@staug_stories.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=LASCNSYEPEJW&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=124047&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=2&CQ_DTF_DOC_TEXT=YES&filename=http://staugustine.com/stories/012905/new_2855494.shtml


Deputies broke through the door and retrieved all the animals inside. Lizards, birds, ferrets, hamsters, mice and guinea pigs were among those rescued.

"They really risked their lives for my little animals," Vail said.

One turtle was the sole casualty.

While deputies wheeled out Abigail, a Silver Crescent Conure, she repeatedly said, "I love you," Vail said with a smile. "She knew she was being rescued."

Bogart housed many of the animals in her store at the end of the plaza for the night. One of the parrots asked, "What's going on?" she said, laughing at the memory.

To see the article without registration, try: http://www.bugmenot.com/

[htuttle]

6. If we only use 10% of our brain capacity

It stands to reason that animals could be nearly as smart with much smaller brains.

on edit:
Thinking about this a little further, I think birds would be particularly adept at learning 'languages'. To the best of my knowledge, birds do not mark territory using scent, as most mammals do. I believe they have lousy senses of smell.

Instead, they mark territory with sound/songs, ie., language, and the territorial imperitive seems to rank right up there on the list of evolutionary influences. It gave the peacock it's feathers, after all.

So I'd imagine that is part of the reason that parrots seem to pick up on human language much quicker than cats or dogs do. Cats and dogs can communicate with humans, of course, but gain as much from inflection and body language as they do from the actual sound of the words, I think.

[lazarus]

7. We do?

That "only use 10%" thing is pure fiction, btw.

[qazplm]

8. unless you are president

then it might be a generous percentage ;)

[Ediacara]

9. If we used only 10%, then why did our brains get bigger?

We might use only 10% at any given moment, but seriously, the whole thing is used.

[indigobusiness]

10. The Parrot In The Bathroom---By Mark Morford

Our dog-loving columnist finds the bird life surreal indeed. And you thought your cat was strange

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, January 28, 2005

It's a terrifically odd and slightly disconcerting moment when you're at one end of the long narrow San Francisco hardwood-floored hallway and you hear a soft click click click of tiny taloned feet and you stick your head out of the kitchen and look down the hall, and you see this bird.
You see this one-foot-tall grey parrot, actually, tiny and delicate and uncommonly dwarfed by the high, arched 14-foot ceiling, just calmly walking down the hall and seeking you out and you just stand there and smile and watch as you get this strange and slightly unnerving sensation that says, whoa, wait wait wait, that's a bird. In my house. Walking toward me. On purpose.

This particular parrot is young, nine months of age. This particular parrot is still developing her personality and she has yet to speak a single word but odds are she will, oh will she ever, African Greys being, we know, the most intelligent and talkative and sentient of all the parrot species, armed with the strongest potential vocabulary and most uncanny ability for mimicry, and studies have shown that this particular species can actually understand and use human language (as opposed to merely, well, parroting it).

But for now it's just a symphony in warm-up a few times a day, all manner of preparation sounds, gurgles and chirps and clicks, grunts and scratches and long, low burps, sing-songy whistles and monkey hiccups the likes of which make you laugh out loud and look on in amazement at this creature's tiny throat and tiny brain and wonder, what the hell is in there?


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/01/28/notes012805.DTL&nl=fix