Bird Brain Thoughts

For this week, we were tasked with annotating a documentary called, “Bird Brain,” which encompassed experiments and research findings about the intelligence of birds. One of the first researchers they mentioned that I took note of was John Marzluff, which is a familiar name since we have read an article written by him. Marzluff is a professor of wild science who specializes in birds at the University of Washington. Marzluff is well respected in his field as he is one of the top bird researchers and has written many books. The second researcher I took note of was Ludwig Huber. Huber is an Austrian zoologist and comparative biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. Huber researches animal cognition in a wide range of animals, not just birds, and is well respected in his field. The last researcher I took note of was Auguste Von Bayern who was experimenting with New Caledonian crows. Bayern is a zoologist who is interested in researching the socio-cognitive abilities evolved by bonded species. In her specific experiment was showcased in the documentary, they were comparing the intelligence of a species of parrot and a New Caledonian crow. However, the crow that was used in the experiment, was wearing a cone. This is because crows mate for life and her mate passed away so she started plucking her feathers from stress. This reminded me of the article we read in Week 1, “Mourning” written by Jeffrey Kluger. “Grieving profoundly, King argues, is the price humans pay for caring profoundly. It’s not too much to suggest that the same equation, albeit on a lesser scale, has to balance for animals too,” (Kluger). Animals develop social connections just like humans and in the case of this crow, they mate for life so when that mate passes away, it is given that they grieve in some way. “The number of neurons is a better indication of brain power than the physical size of the brain. And this is the interesting thing. We’ve learned, recently, that bird brains actually pack a lot more neurons into a particular area than do mammal brains,” (13:29). One of the findings that stuck out to me, is that even though birds are way smaller than humans, this does not limit their brain power. Birds are extremely intelligent creatures that pack more neurons into their brain, so even though they might be smaller, we cannot doubt birds and their intelligence. Another quote that stuck out to me while watching the documentary was, “Anything that involves innovation and trying new techniques, and having to solve problems within the environment to get food, that all stimulates a greater connection of the neurons in one’s brain. So they’re basically building a strong brain by having to explore this complex and variable environment,” (14:31). This quote stuck out to me because of the connection to an article we have read before about wolves and their adaptation patterns leading to bolder behavior. Birds and wolves keep getting smarter and learning how to survive in our overwhelming advancing society and this could lead to them being bolder.