Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to
revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in
their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have
enormous brains relative to their size.
Although small, bird
brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their
weight. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman
explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about.
As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of
research - the distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the
great tit communities of the United Kingdom and the bowerbird habitats
of Australia, the ravaged mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy and
the warming mountains of central Virginia and the western states -
Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of
birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird
brain itself that are revolutionizing our view of what it means to be
intelligent.
Consider, as Ackerman does, the Clark's
nutcracker, a bird that can hide as many as 30,000 seeds over dozens of
square miles and remember where it put them several months later; the
mockingbirds and thrashers, species that can store 200 to 2,000
different songs in a brain a thousand times smaller than ours; the
well-known pigeon, which knows where it's going, even thousands of miles
from familiar territory; and the New Caledonian crow, an impressive
bird that makes its own tools. But beyond highlighting how birds use
their unique genius in technical ways, Ackerman points out the
impressive social smarts of birds. They deceive and manipulate.
They eavesdrop. They display a strong sense of fairness. They give gifts.
The Genius of Birds - Jennifer Ackerman
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£8.99