5 smartest birds, according to scientists

What is intelligence, scientists have not yet agreed. This concept is too broad: it includes the ability to be aware of oneself as an individual, and social skills, and the ability to solve intricate logical problems, and curiosity, that is, a thirst for new information and experiment. That is why it can be so difficult to assess the level of intelligence of this or that living creature. But attempts are being made.

In 2005, Canadian biologist Louis Lefebvre suggested Bird IQ Test Takes Flight / ScienceDaily to determine the IQ of birds by the degree of ingenuity they display when foraging. Lefebvre studied hundreds of scientific publications in the world's ornithological journals and, based on them, named the most cunning birds. The greatest "intellectuals" when it comes to finding food were crows, falcons, hawks, woodpeckers and herons.

However, Lefebvre himself made a remark to Crows and jays top bird IQ scale / BBC News: the rating compiled by him speaks not so much about how smart specific birds are, but about their "innovation", that is, the ability to find non-standard solutions.

If we talk about different types of intellectual activity, and not just about ingenuity in the search for food, like Lefebvre, then the rating of the smartest birds may turn out to be different.

Birdwatching studies confirm that birds are much closer to humans in mental abilities than we used to think. And some "smart people" have such outstanding cognitive skills that they surpass primates, young children, and even adults.

1. Ravens

There is reason to believe that these birds may be one of the smartest animals on Earth.

They are able to H. M. Ditz, A. Nieder. Neurons selective to the number of visual items in the corvid songbird endbrain / PNAS count to five. Use tools such as chopsticks to pick insects out of rotten tree stumps. Create A. M. P. von Bayern, S. Danel, A. M. I. Auersperg et al. Compound tool construction by New Caledonian crows / Scientific Reports complex tools - increase the length of the same stick to reach a piece that is too far away. See how it looks.

The skills of the crows impressed scientists, since it was previously believed that only humans and great apes are capable of inventing multi-component tools.

And also these birds are able to S. A. Jelbert, A. H. Taylor, L. G. Cheke et al. Using the Aesop's Fable Paradigm to Investigate Causal Understanding of Water Displacement by New Caledonian Crows / PLOS ONE to establish causal relationships at least 7-year-olds. And in general, it seems, they study us, homo sapiens, with no less interest than we do them. At least K. N. SwiftJohn, M. Marzluff are known. Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger / Animal Behavior, that crows have an excellent memory for faces and are capable of getting angry with specific people.

2. Magpies

These birds belong to the same family of corvids as crows (as well as jays, jackdaws, rooks). Zoologists consider corvids as intellectuals in general, just crows are more studied today. But other members of the family also demonstrate intelligence.

For example, European magpies easily pass the so-called mirror test, that is, they recognize H. Prior, A. Schwarz, O. Güntürkün. Mirror-Induced Behavior in the Magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of Self-Recognition / PLOS Biology of yourself in the mirror. This is an extremely complex skill, which assumes that a living creature is able to separate itself from the surrounding world, to be aware of itself as a person.

Are the kids starting Whos Baby In The Mirror? / Psychology Today successfully pass the mirror test before the age of 18 months.

Curiously, psychologists associate this skill with the development of complex self-conscious emotions: sympathy, guilt, embarrassment, shame, pride. Do magpies and other members of the corvid family feel something similar? Perhaps. But science does not yet have an exact answer.

3. African gray parrots

The smartest birds in the world: African gray parrots

According to the generally accepted stereotype, the butt is a fool. The birds deserve such a dubious image because they are able to mechanically repeat human speech, which they do not understand. And this creates dissonance. On the one hand, the parrot can talk - how smart! And on the other - well, it's obvious that he's a fool!

However, not all of the parrot family are fools. Take at least an inconspicuous at first glance, a gray African parrot (gray).

There's a lot going on in their small, nut-sized brains. And Grays live so long that they can accumulate a lot of information and memories Why Ravens and Crows Are Earth's Smartest Birds / National Geographic.

Kevin McGowan ornithologist from the Cornell University Ornithology Laboratory, for National Geographic Magazine

In the 1950s, Irene Pepperberg, a Harvard psychologist and specialist in animal-human communication, began teaching Alex Grays speech. She chose an unusual method: two people were involved in training the parrot, who played different roles. The first is the "teacher": he taught lessons for the parrot and for the second person - the "student". The “apprentice” acted as a kind of role model for the Grays answers and was a kind of rival for Alex (yes, parrots also have a competitive spirit). Pepperberg called this method of learning the triangle method.

Constant contact with people and the desire to surpass the opponent gave an amazing result. Before his death in 2007, Alex was fluent with about a hundred words, could foresee events and express the corresponding desires. For example, Irene quite meaningfully said to collecting things: "Stay, don't go." He even grasped the meaning of the concepts "the same" and "different", precisely naming the signs by which similar objects are distinguished (for example, red and blue balls).

Today, Dr. Pepperberg is working with another Gray - Griffin The parrot knows shapes / Harvard Gazette. He already knows how to recognize colors, correctly designate two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects (circle, square, parallelepiped) and is getting closer to understanding the concept of "zero".

4. Cockatoo

These handsome crested men, like crows, know how to create "tools of labor." For example, taking a piece of cardboard in their beak, they rake pebbles in search of food. Or they make a kind of drums from sticks and dried plant boxes with seeds, on which they play a love song for the female. It is curious that each male has its own recognizable rhythm and even melody.

In addition, cockatoo are talented dancers. They perfectly feel the tempo, rhythm and are able to coordinate movements with increasing the volume and tone of the music.

See how a cockatoo named Snowball is dancing. National Geographic magazine experts believe that he does it even better than many people.

5. Pigeons

The smartest birds in the world: pigeons

These plump and well-fed city birds are considered stupid. And in vain. Pigeons exhibit many intellectual abilities The Surprising Neuroscience of Pigeon Intelligence / Psychology Today:

They know how to recognize words and distinguish them from meaningless combinations of sounds and letters.
Count to nine. This result is even steeper than that of the recognized "intellectuals" - the crows and many primates.
They have an amazing memory. Pigeons can memorize 725 random black and white images - a task beyond most people.
Can recognize and discern trends in art. For example, Picasso's paintings are unmistakably distinguished from Monet's paintings.

So the next time, while scattering clumsy pigeons getting tangled under your feet, think about it: perhaps these are much more subtle and intelligent natures than most of the surrounding bipeds.