When I was 15 or 16, I forget exactly, one of my fabulous science teachers was Wayne Ransley at Cosgrove High School in Tasmania.
A clear memory is his answer to my question about how birds are so smart given their tiny brain. His reply included the statement that it is an area of study called “network theory.” The main point is that back then I was intrigued with bird’s brains, and that it was already an area my science teacher was familiar with. It was the mid 1960’s and he would not have been much older than us students, but as students we saw all teachers as very senior adults.
Throughout my career, studying and working in artificial intelligence, it has been integral to my work to be aware of the other forms of intelligence. Particularly that of the octopus, a mollusk for goodness sake, more clever in some areas than many mammals. For instance learning to unscrew a jar cap to get to a delicacy just by observing another octopus do it. Dogs cannot do similar cognitive tasks.
My fascination with birds was because of the amazing things they can do but with the tiniest of brains. It is a common insult to call someone a “bird brain”, but that is so inaccurate. My interest was more in the evolutionary constraints that have resulted in such intelligent bird brains. Considering what they have to achieve, fly in formation, plot flight paths through complex 3-D terrain and obstacle courses, migrate, build nests, recognise similar species, raise a totally dependent chick, all in a body that has to be as light as possible to allow flight. Then to survive, learning to do things like the ravens that get milk from removing bottle caps. Everything about their design is to achieve low weight. Their bones and feather stems are hollow, they do not carry liquid urine which is heavy but instead have solid waste. Their hearts are only 3 chambers. Their limb extremities are little more than bone and gristle. Their brains have no luxury of space and size and weight, so the networks have to be highly efficient and contained.
Recently, with so much time spent away from Australia seeing squirrels I am equally amazed at what they do with also a small brain, but coordination, balance, and similar movements.
So it is clear that the ways that a mammalian brain is structured, with no limit to how large it can become if necessary, would not suit a bird. It is well known that evolution is a vertical process. That evolution involves the adaption of existing structures. So the path is unable to go back and start again, or to try a radically different approach. It is piecemeal on top of what is readily available. So it is not a surprise in this article below that there is reason to believe that the evolution of intelligence in the bird brain has a different starting point from mammalian brains.
In fact a bird brain seems in some ways to be true multiprocessors, located in numerous separated brain structures, none of which resemble the cortex of mammals, which is where we think of intelligence and cognition residing. The so called Grey Matter. With no cortex, some birds can count, others use tools, all of which would be impossible if we did not have our cortex. Some clues as to how this may have evolved is in the article with the link below, which came from my friend Vaidya.
Intelligence on Earth Evolved Independently at Least Twice | WIRED
It’s a mystery, but: A 44 year old Frenchman was found to have 90% of his brain missing. It appears that he never had more than that. He had been functioning normally until he developed mild weakness in his left leg. He had been working as a public servant. Maybe that’s why he had been able to lead a seemingly normal life.
I get the joke, but this is actually a true story, published in The Lancet in 2007. It seems that he had a form of hydrocephalus, a large water bubble in the middle of his brain, which may have squashed the tissue into a thin layer inside the skull, thereby leaving most of the tissue compacted but intact and his cognitive functions functioning. Some damage to motor functions and IQ, but as you say a normal life. Brains, birdbrains, octopi brains, hair brains, are all mysteries as you say.
Good post, Allan.
It does make sense that different creatures would have evolved the ability to process and even analyze information in their own way, within the confines of the existence dictated by their morphological capabilities/limitations, as you have pointed out in the case of birds.
I am currently listening to “The Light Eaters” by Zoe Schlanger and it provides great insights into the world of plants and the intelligence demonstrated by plants in their behavior.
What fascinates me is the cross-species learning by imitation. An octopus has no reason to know what a jar is or how to open it, but it probably has reason to use its tentacles to generate torque upon objects in its world…and it is quite remarkable that it is able to understand, at some level, that (1) the lid can be unscrewed and the jar can be opened and (2) that it is basically a matter of opposing torque between the jar and the lid…and then of course (3) the ability to execute the action…to be able to deploy the requisite motor function using the tools available to it.
So there is an associative machine working there…and maybe intelligence, in general, has its own ‘language’, so to speak, and all intelligent creatures use that basic ‘language’. We just happen to have developed many different user interfaces for that core language, and we call those ‘English’ or ‘Hindi’ or ‘French’ etc.
I need to think this over…there seems to be something circling my mind, tantalizingly just out of reach. Btw, what’s that feeling all about?
That’s a good reply Vaidya, thanks for posting it.
Just out of reach eh? Maybe it is the biological search engine at work, aware there is something there, still delving through neural networks to find it. Letting you know by way of the feeling, that a part of your brain is still active on the task.
I liked (and agree with) Terry Winograd’s language primitives. It goes part of the way to addressing your ideas of a “basic language”.
All animals have their Indranet. Maybe their brains are largely in the cloud. Taking blackbirds, it strikes me they have the ability to communicate at distance, mentally, say, about which people to stay away from and which person will not bother them. There’s a lot of blackbirds hereabouts. The hens are least concerned about human (my) presence., is my experience.
Here is a link to a page about caring for domesticated birds such as canaries.
http://www.serinofil.com
After reading Vaidya’s link, I have a renewed fascination with birds. I’ve only ever had 2 pet birds, no canaries, both budgies. We all tried to get the first one to talk, when we were kids, to no avail. The second one when I was about 40 years old, we called Mary Poppins. When it flew around the house it always perched on my shoulder. We got it too late for it to have imprinted to me, but that is what it felt like. Really loved Mary Poppins and miss her. Here in Bangkok I see storks floating high like giant gliders, neck out front and feet training behind and am never bored watching them. I used to watch seagulls fighting and squawking for scraps on the beach and imagine them 65 million years ago as dinosaurs.
I follow an African Grey parrot called Gizmo on YouTube. He holds genuine conversations. (They post so much and so often, I’m sure there’s not a lot of editing involved.) And he has a sense of humour, which is a whole different way of using a brain.
There are also dogs and cats using buttons to communicate on YT, but I’m not sure how much is edited. I suspect all animals are a lot more intelligent than we’ve been giving them credit for. All animal behaviour was considered instinctive, but evidence is increasingly showing that isn’t the case.
Interesting post!
Hi Jennifer, one of my favourite books is “When Elephants Weep, The Emotional Lives of Animals” by Jeffery Moussaieff Masson. It makes you think twice about everything you ever thought about animals, especially what they might be thinking and feeling. I did read a long time ago about pigs doing puzzles or games or something on computer screens, apparently one of the smartest of animals.
I came across this amazing short video about a bear sighting near Lake Lure. It’s a reminder to always stay alert when you’re in bear country, especially while hiking in the mountains.