Movie Time (Bird Brain the film)

Now, I am a sucker for documentary style films. Especially animal documentaries.

But I have to say I really enjoyed this one. Bird Brain was all about the birds that are considered to be the most intelligent of the bunch, though they did mention geese who are not known for their big brains.

I found two particular researchers and their corresponding experiments to be the most interesting. Funny thing is they are both on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to what kinds of birds they work with. John Marzluff from the University of Washington is one of the main interviewees who gives very insightful explanations for the behaviors of Kea, a species of bird that is found in the mountains of New Zealand.

"Anything that involves innovation and trying new techniques and having to solve problems within the environment to get food, that all stimulates a great connection of the neurons in one's brain. So they're basically building a strong brain by having to explore this complex and variable environment" (14:26).

This was later proven in the documentary when researchers at the Haidlhof Research Station near Vienna were conducting experiments to test whether Keas could figure out the puzzles to obtain food. I was fascinated by the ability for the birds to look at a puzzle and come up with a solution almost on the spot. The particular experiment I was most impressed by was the one where the Kea was able to distinguish which object fit into the tube and would dislodge the peanut inside. It was only able to do so since it and other members of its species had been observed playing with toys and putting them in tubes of varying sizes.

Talk about mind blown!

The second experiment I was so surprised to see was the one conducted by Isabella Schieber from the University of Vienna. She studies the goose brain and the social hierarchy that the species seemed to follow in quite the creative way. Schieber would present the geese with colored squares that were ranked in a hierarchy and presented treats under the higher ranked color. Eventually the geese were able to piece together what the hierarchy was and would correctly get the color right every time. This was a apparently known as Transitive Inference, a trait that I never in a million years would have believed was found in geese. Double mind blown!

One other thing I found interesting was the mention of social groups. Humans are a very social species. It's how we learn and form bonds with each other, as well as a number of other things that help us in our day-to-day lives. Animals have this too, and there's actually a theory out there that suggests animals who live in groups have evolved to be smarter overall.

"And so there's a hypothesis, the social intelligence hypothesis, that proposes that the selective pressures of living in these groups, of having to meet all these challenges, has favored the evolution of a brain that can do more complex cognitive processing" (28:32).

Triple mind blown!

Well, I can't say I am completely mind blown. As an owner of very witty and wild dogs, I can say first hand that animals have a very genius mind when they really need to. It was a while ago, but I remember the feeling I got when I first read Kluger's "Intelligence" article. It was the same as when I watched the documentary, though I do much better visually than straight from an article so it was much more enjoyable this time around. The one quote from Kluger that I saw in the documentary fit very well, especially with the research a variety of people were doing, is as following:

"Crows, for example, have proved themselves adept at bending wire to create a hook so they can fish a basket of food from the bottom of a plastic tube" (Kluger, 13).

In Bird Brain they demonstrated this with how Wek was able to use a hook to get a treat even though the tool was not made by herself. I found it fascinating coming from a species lacking arms or fingers, but I couldn't help shake my head and wonder why I doubted them in the first place. Animals are highly underrated and compared to humans, but I think this does them a great disservice. They are all unique and tackle problems on their own, even if it's only to survive another day. But I have to ask, for as little credit as we give them, how many of us could survive a day in the life of one of these creatures?

Just some food for thought!

'Till next time!

Signing off for now...

Emi out :D