Bird Brains

[dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>]

    I just read an article in Discover about parrots who (African Grays) who do
not mimik speach, they understand what they are saying and are capable of
thinking in the abstract.  They recognize that reflections in a mirror imitate
reality, for instance (a skill which humans do not have until age two).  They
can recognize patterns and make predictions of future events based on the
patterns (red circle, red square, red triange, what color will the next shape
be?)  All this they do with a little bird brain, _much_ smaller in relation to
body mass than a monkey's.  Is it possible that avian brains are wired to make a
more efficiant use of space than mammalian brains are?  Also, what does this say
about dinosaurian brains?

Dan