Friday, February 13, 2009

Bird brain? Animal smarts surprise experts

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

By Randolph E. Schmid
Associated Press
February 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.

Read the rest of the article on msnbc.com.

And if you are really interested in the subject of animal sentinence, check out Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights by noted attorney and scholar Steven M. Wise.

1 comment:

kelly g. said...

I'm current reading Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's 'The Pig Who Sang to the Moon,' and the chapter on "poultry" address the intelligence of birds in poetical detail. A must-read!