Bird brain? Animal smarts surprise experts

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Bird brain? Animal smarts surprise experts

The term 'bird brain' should be replaced by 'brainy birds,' say researchers

By Randolph E. Schmid

The Associated Press

updated 6:04 p.m. PT, Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009

CHICAGO - Monkeys perform mental math, pigeons

can select the picture that doesn't belong.

Humans may not be the only animals that plan for

the future, say researchers reporting on the

latest studies of animal mental ability.

" I suggest we humans should keep our egos in

check, " Edward A. Wasserman of the University of

Iowa said Thursday at the annual meeting of the

American Association for the Advancement of

Science.

Wasserman, a professor of experimental

psychology, said that, like people, pigeons and

baboons were able to tell which pictures showed

similar items, like triangles or dots, and which

showed different items.

This is the definition of a concept, he said,

" and the animals passed it with flying colors. "

He spoke at a symposium on " Animal Smarts, " where

researchers discussed the latest findings in the

mental abilities of animals.

In the last 20 years there has been a major

revolution in the understanding of animals, added

Nicola S. Clayton, a professor of comparative

cognition at the University of Cambridge in

England.

Animals not only use tools, there is evidence

that some of them save tools for future use, she

said.

" Planning ahead was once thought to be unique to

humans, " Clayton said. " We now know that's not

true. "

For example, she said, crows have been seen

stashing food away for the next day and even

finding ways to protect it from being stolen.

The term " birdbrain, " is obsolete, she said, and

should be replaced by " brainy birds. "

Speaking of crow intelligence, Alex Kacelnik, a

professor of behavioral ecology at the University

of Oxford in England, noted the " master tool user

of the avian world, " the New Caledonian crow.

These birds have been shown to not just use

tools, but to make their own by twisting and

bending pieces of wire to fish food from places

they couldn't reach otherwise.

" What we are describing about the abilities of

different species is that human abilities are

expressed, sometimes, in other species, " Kacelnik

said.

Jessica Cantlon of Duke University noted that

" number sense " seems among the shared evolution

of many primates.

Cantlon and Elizabeth Brannon have studied how

human adults and babies, lemurs and monkeys think

about numbers without using language.

After seeing the same number of objects

repeatedly in different-looking groups, infants

notice when the number of objects is changed,

they found. So, too, do macaques.

Indeed, college students and macaques seem

equally able to roughly sum up sets of objects

without actually counting them.

That abiliity can be useful to the macaques in

determining whether there is enough food to

remain in an area or to get a sense of how large

their group is compared to competing groups.

They are currently working to see if monkeys can recognize the concept of zero.

 

Some people may be uneasy as new studies find

increasing similarities between animal and human

mental abilities, Wasserman said.

The aim is to learn how much thinking ability is

general throughout the animal kingdom, he said,

" the evidence that we collect constantly

surprises us. "

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