Birds are more like 'feathered apes' than 'bird brains'

For centuries scientists dismissed birds as dumb based on physical differences in their brains. How wrong we were. When Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees making tools in 1960, humans lost their self-aggrandizing status as the world's only tool makers. Now scientists are beginning to realise there may be much more 'intelligent life' in the universe than previously thought, but it's just here: on our planet. Since Goodall's discovery, researchers have found numerous other mammals displaying high levels of intelligence, including the great apes, elephants, dolphins, orcas and many canine species. But only in the last couple decades has scientists' attention turned to intelligence in non-mammals, including birds. "Studies of avian intelligence have been hampered by the old fashioned idea that birds are stupid, and not worth considering in terms of intelligence," said Nathan Emery, author of the new book, Bird Brain: An Exploration of Avian Intelligence and senior lecturer at Queen Mary: University of London. Continue reading...