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Re: Bird brains
On Thu, 22 Jun 1995 VanKathy@aol.com wrote:
>
> One more example of the intelligence of crows (or perhaps ravens -- it was
> many years ago when I read this) involves an experiment somewhat similar to
> what M. Rowe described. A bird was placed in an area where the only water
> available was in a tube so narrow that only the bird's beak could fit inside.
> Furthermore, the water level was set so that it lay just beyond the bird's
> reach. In a brilliant solution that probably is beyond many human's problem
> solving abilities, the bird dropped pebbles into the water until the water
> was displaced enough for it to reach!
Are you sure you're not remembering one of Aesop's Fables ("The Crow and
the Pitcher"--available in many Internet reading rooms) rather than a
genuine experiment?
But speaking of birds, dinosaurs and intelligence... Granted that
Velociraptor was not nearly as intelligent as Jurassic Park leads us to
believe... is there a consensus that today's birds are "smarter" than any
of their Mesozoic ancestors?
----- Amado Narvaez
anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu