The Genius of Birds
The Genius of Birds
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 s
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The Genius of Birds: Intricately Intertwined Observations and Findings by a Dedicated Author,
The writing by the author Jennifer Ackerman is at times beautiful ( as when she is describing the rainforest at nightfall),or laugh-out-loud funny (she discusses attempts by a bird biologist to measure intelligence in his test subjects by disguising himself, wearing at different sessions: a kimono, a wig,sunglasses, or walking with a limp, or hopping. They always recognized him). I was totally rolling when I read this, thinking of Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies. She is always fresh too, with new news on birds right up to this year. As things have changed dramatically in what we know about birds within the past ten years, this book is welcome as an overview, now. This is a book for bird lovers of all sorts.
There is a section about the social aspect of birds, subtitled “twitter”. This is fascinating too. The reader will learn about how different types of birds bond, and how they teach their young to perform certain important actions they will eventually need to survive. Also discussed is how some types of birds teach others in their particular “group” techniques they have been trained. , Incredibly, researchers have taught certain birds to open feeders in a special manner. They then were able to watch and track as their trained birds performed the tasks in the woods. The birds they had trained managed to train additional wild members to do exactly as they did, What collaborative little creatures!
Further on, you learn about vocal virtuosity. I particularly love bird song, as I find it incredibly uplifting. I didn’t know that birds must be tutored to sing however. I understand this now, from this book.In this chapter you learn that among Thomas Jefferson’s favorite pets were his mockingbirds. Later,when you read about Honey Child, a hand raised mockingbird, your jaw will drop with amazement at the repertoire of his songs, which he would add to and occasionally drop throughout the length of his life. Woodpeckers, wrens, jays, you name it, Honey Child is worth the read! You will learn that this intricate process of vocal learning is termed “advanced”, because, it’s done “our way”, eg., the way humans teach their children, and the way children learn to selectively speak.The male songbirds who have better songs appeal to the females more, too.As the author writes, “Listening for super-sexy syllables allows female canaries to rule out males with poor bilateral co-ordination” This is important, if you are a lady canary!
Read on, through this award-winning author’s book, to learn about birds who decorate: “the bird artist”, birds who can map: “a mapping mind” and finally, sparrows: “sparrowville”.
This is a book to curl up with in the winter, or to take along on your cruise. It doesn’t really have photos, just a few sketches of birds opening each chapter, but that is not the point of this book. The Genius of Birds is about behaviors, patterns, reversal learning, which bird is the “world’s dumbest”–yes, it has an offering for that, but not the author’s (and I cracked up at that part!!!), the importance of studying birds in their natural environment to learn more and better understand them, and plenty more. The Genius of Birds is a big read, but nothing in it is wasted on the willing reader. I applaud Ackerman for taking me outside and to all sorts of amazing places, when she wrote this uplifting, extraordinary book about beautiful, beautiful birds.
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|Fun and interesting book for bird lovers,
The book is an academic work that is written in an engaging and light style, good for both layman and expert. I am going to tell everyone I know just how dang smart pigeons are and to quit giving them a hard time!
The bottom line in Ackerman’s book is that birds are smart and that we humans should consider different forms of intelligence when evaluating their IQ. In several areas birds outstrip humans, so we’re not the smartest beings on the planet (I can’t recall thousands and thousands of different hiding spots, I can’t even find my keys on the average day)
This was a very enjoyable book, don’t be daunted by the huge number of end notes, you’ll have fun reading it and quoting tidbits to friends and family.
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|Next time someone calls you a bird-brain, say thanks!,
This is a well-written book about how, in fact, birds are not dumb. Despite having teeny tiny brains, some of them are quite clever and can solve problems on par with 5-year-old children, learn english language grammar, or develop entire grammars of their own. As a keeper of backyard chickens, i couldn’t help but despair at the cleverness of some of the species discussed, as my hens are not natural problem solvers. That’s good, though, as things would quickly go wrong if the laying hens were smarter than their captors.
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