The Unrecognized Intelligence of Birds
Versatility in Learning:
Birds are one of the most intelligent animals, but each species has their own unique way of learning. Most tests for animal intelligence have been reserved for monkeys, apes, or large-brained animals. Birds - mostly pigeons, chickens, and quails - have been models of associative learning. However, some birds have forebrains that are about the same size as great apes, live in complex social groups, and have long developmental periods before independence.
Crows and parrots are both qualitatively and quantitatively more sophisticated than other bird groups and have an intelligence level comparable to monkeys and apes. There are only a limited number of tests in comparative psychology of bird species with smaller brain sizes or those that aren’t known for their intelligence. Both crows and parrots live in constantly variable environments. Parrots live in the same neotropical regions as primates while crows can survive in some of Earth’s harshest environments. They are omnivorous foragers, are highly social and demonstrate similar levels of social complexity, have large forebrains relative to their body size, and often have an extended developmental period.
Explaining Behavior:
Bird behavior can be explained as an adaptation to solving-ecological problems and possesses a hardware dissimilar to other mammals. The wiring and processing done by the brain is different, but the resulting output is similar. It was suggested by Jerrison (1973) that the brain size might not be a useful indicator of intelligence since it perceives objects in the environment and subserves basic regulatory and vegetative functions, which may be related to body size. Jerrison produced an index where the effects of body weight were controlled, and discovered that the encephalization quotient (EQ) separated animals based on their apparent cognitive skills. Both chimpanzee and crow brains are larger than the prediction based on their body shape. Other birds, such as hummingbirds and ostriches, were located lower on the regression line, which suggests that their brains were the same or lower than the predicted size.
Bird brains have been adapted for cognitive processing, which was found from comparative analyses of brain sizes and measures of behavioral complexity. In crows, parrots, songbirds, woodpeckers, hornbills, owls, and falcons, there was a significant relationship between high innovation rate and relative brain size. Birds are also adapted to solve socio-ecological problems due to living in large, individualized societies. They have learned to recognize each other, develop long-term relationships, and track other birds’ social relationships. These actions require specialized neural systems to process information.
Bird intelligence has been somewhat neglected because of a focus on an anthropocentric approach to bird cognition. Research based on this was mostly conducted on pigeons, chickens, and quails, which don’t have as well-developed forebrains as crows and parrots. The goal of the approach was to examine the fundamental processes of learning and cognition. The adaptive specialization approach, however, suggests that differences in cognitive processes are related to ecological problems faced by said species. Birds specialize in discerning differences between visual images and categorize them based on their perceptual similarities of abstract concepts. For example, pigeons are skilled in categorizing images based on certain elements and African gray parrots can be trained to vocally label vastly different objects. Another method to test intelligence is the learning set; an animal is presented with a pair of stimuli and is rewarded when they choose a certain option. If their option results in a reward, they will keep choosing that option.
Pigeons have been known to be able to navigate over long distances and use their homing abilities to return home from hundreds of miles away using visual landmarks, Earth’s magnetic field, and the position of the sun. Chickens have formed complex social hierarchies and can recognize members of the flock. They communicate using vocalizations for various purposes, such as an alarm call or to alert the flock for predators. Chickens are also capable of expressing empathy and have an emotional intelligence that is often overlooked.
References
Emery, Nathan J. "Cognitive Ornithology: The Evolution of Avian Intelligence." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 361, no. 1465, 7 Dec. 2005, pp. 23-43. National Library of Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1736.
Y, Shana. "The Complexity of Ranking Bird Intelligence." Avian Behavior International, avian-behavior.org/bird-intelligence/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.