Birds – Incredible Creatures

Birds are very interesting creatures. They are vertebrates,
because like fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, they have
a spinal cord. They are also tetra pods because of their four
limbs, two of which became wings, that are, in general, for
flying. The other pair is for walking, running, and swimming.
All birds, and only birds, have beaks and feathers and all
species lay eggs. They have no mammary glands and neither do
they have teeth. They are endothermic, that is why they are
considered warm-blooded animals. Most of them fly except for
some emus, ostriches, and penguins along with a few other
species.

They have been around for millions of years and have been
helping the environment. They are known to be very intelligent
even without having been thoroughly studied. Scientists believe
that birds, as a class, have a higher level of intelligence than
most reptiles, and can be just as intelligent as many mammals
regardless of size. Mammal intelligence testing is based on how
they modify their surroundings using their forelimbs, and since
birds lack forelimbs it is difficult to test their intelligence
as it is tested on mammals.

It is widely believed in the scientific world, that birds
actually lack real intelligence; they act upon their instincts
and are unable to learn. Scientists who believe this rely on the
fact that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex, which
is the area of the brain where most animals use their
intelligence. Yet, it has been proven that the bird uses a
different part of its brain for intelligence, the hipertriatum.

Birds have excellent vision. They rely on it for flying and
navigating. They need their sharp vision for processing large
amounts of visual information for locating rodents and other
prey on the earth while flying. They usually have monocular
vision; their eyes are each on the opposite side of the head.
They need great brainpower to process and combine the different
information they get from each eye.

Many scientists say that the more social animals are, the more
intelligent they are. The greatest argument in favor of this is
that humans are the most social and the most intelligent
animals. Parrots and corvids both tend towards organized social
behavior. Many corvid species separate into clans for nesting or
defending territory. Then they usually flock together with
different species in order to migrate. When migration is through
they go back to their original clans. Scientists say that this
behavior indicates real intelligence because of the way the bird
can identify each clan member and the changes in temperature and
climate while migrating.

While hunting, some birds make use of teamwork. Predatory birds
work in pairs, while one bird distracts the prey, the other
swoops down for the kill. This is called the “bait and switch”
technique.

Similar to primates, many bird species use tools. Some species
of crows grip sticks with their beaks to pick out insects from
logs. This has been observed as something the young birds learn
from their elders, but it has also been observed in captivity. A
laboratory crow made a hook tool with wire without having
learned this from any other bird.

Birds have no form of spoken language as we humans do, but they
do communicate through singing, calling and using body language.
Studies show that birds learn their territorial songs at a young
age and use them for the rest of their lives. Some species even
learn different song dialects.

A bird can instinctively migrate alone for the first time, and
as it gets older and more experienced it has a smaller
probability of getting lost. This shows that they can memorize
places, landmarks, and have a sense of direction.

Many people like to compare stupid people with birds, but
actually birds are one of the most intelligent creatures on
Earth. They are highly evolved and have developed extremely
sharp skills and senses. So, next time you make fun of someone
less experienced than you and you say they’re “as dumb as a
duck”, remember this article.