BIRDS ARE BRAINY PART I

  PART- I  

IS IT TRUE?

 BIRDS ARE BRAINY! 

When I was a kid I had  heard a lot of stories from my Grandma. One such story was that there was a crow who feeling very thirsty managed to find a jar of water,but the water level was down and it could not insert the beak into the water. Therefore she intelligently picked up some small pebbles from nearby area and dropped the stones one by one into the jar and the water level rose a little higher until at last it reached the brim , and the bird was able to quench her thirst.

All along I was thinking that it was only a story and birds are stupid and they can’t have such brains.

After sometime during my childhood  I was excited to meet a sparrow at the backyard of my home,  everyday morning exactly on time to receive my gift of grains,  and  I  enjoyed her reactions against a small mirror which I kept there. After pecking the grains she always looked at the mirror and pecking at her own image few times and then she flew away.

I have also heard from one of my friends that he saw a crow with a dry piece of biscuit in its beak sitting on top of a flower pot the other afternoon. The bird dropped the biscuit in the water on the pot’s holding tray, and little later,the bird was feasting on the softened food.

This was really surprised me.

Can they recognize themselves?

Are they capable of conscious decision making?

Are they having enough brain to do so.  

I used to think…

Scientist have already found that like the other mammals birds have the ability to recognize themselves in mirror test. Not only self recognition,they also display social  recognition.

One parrot has been known to count,identify shapes and colors besides able to mimic human and animal sounds. There is one study of a parrot that was able to identify more than 100 items by name.  In addition the bird could also tell similarities and differences. If shown 3 triangles of different colors and asked what is the same or different the bird would give the correct answer (shape or color) four out of 5 times.

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Certain birds have advanced learning abilities.  For instance some birds such as jackdaws do not automatically recognize which animals are predators.  They learn it from their parents.  Many songbirds are able to learn and teach vocal communication, the skill which makes human language possible

Research  shows that magpies have self-recognition, a trait previously thought to only exists in higher orders of mammals.  The researchers placed colored dots on the necks of magpies.  When the birds saw the dots in a mirror they would try to remove them.

Some birds will cooperate with each other while hunting.  An example is what could be called bait and switch.  Two or more birds discover another animal with something they would like to eat.  One bird will land, and distract the animal may be by pecking at its tail. As soon as the animal turns the other bird swoops in and takes the food.  There is even teamwork between species, an example is birds such as chickadees and nuthatches working together to drive away a predator.

BONUS: You Tube VIDEO

SEE THE SEAGULL THIEF:  CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO CLIP

Which is the world's smartest bird?

Can we meet again after sometime!