Re: Bird Brains

["Antony L Hedges" <boner@boner.screaming.net>]

This is a very interesting topic for discussion. We assume that the mamalian
bodyform and such is the best adaptive example of evolution, but we can see
for example that the respitory system of birds in relation to muscle output
is much more efficient than our own.

We haven't been around as long as some of the avian/dinosaur forms of life,
so it would stand to reason that, with longer to evolve some of their
systems are going to be more advanced/efficient. Just because birds don't
smoke, have wars and tell bad jokes doesn't mean that they can't be better
at certain things. I know from observation that they fly a damn sight better
than we do!

It's a topic that is well worth further study.

Tony Hedges


----- Original Message -----
From: "dbensen" <dbensen@gotnet.net>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Cc: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2000 4:19 PM
Subject: Bird Brains


>     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
>
>