He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.
George Sand
Tonight we take a look at Joshua Klein‘s talk at Ted from May of 2008.
A transcript of the video available on the TED page here if you do not have the bandwidth to view it. Below the squiggle, if you‘re interested, we present some other videos demonstrating the intelligence of the corvidae. We hope you enjoy.
There are a lot of videos posted from various sources here on dKos, music videos to nourish our souls, comedy and political satire that tickle and tackle the irony of our lives, and video news to keep the fire of change burning in our psyche. A few videos, too few in my humble opinion, are about science. I thought our community might appreciate a series presenting interesting science videos from Ted, YouTube, wherever.
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It is not hard to understand the arrogance of humanity to think they are unique on this small world, for though we had the eyes to see, we had not the time nor the energy nor the ability to send trained observers into the field to discover the wonders of nature. But it is hard to forgive the persistance of such hubris. We‘ve but to open our eyes to see that we are not all that special after all.
One of the bullet points in the ancient argument for man‘s superiority is his ability to create and use tools. It is an argument that has been steadily eroded over the years. Now we have discovered tool making behavior in chimpanzees and bonobos. Then the gorilla, orangutan, and even capuchin monkeys have been observed using sticks and other items to measure, retrieve food, or even as an aid in walking across a stream.
Tonight we look at tool use among a family of birds in the corvidae which includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers.Wiki
Oxford University Behavioural Ecology Research Group has been at the forefront of research into bird intelligence. Their star pupil Betty, a New Caladonian Crow, struts her stuff for the researcher‘s camera...
Sequentially selecting tools of different lengths to get to the reward is not the only skill Betty has shown. Here she demostrates
tool modification...
Other tests have been performed with the New Caladonian. Here scientists present a trap test to another crow to determine whether or not it can generalize from one type of problem to another...
Tool use by these incredible birds is not limited to the laboratory. Here Drs. Gavin Hunt and Russel Gray of the University of Auckland show a Caladonian using tools in the field.
Here is Russel Gray talking about the phenomena of avian cognition. In the following videos we learn that these birds fashion the specific tools they need.
It isn‘t only New Caladonian crows that demonstrate superior congitive abilities.
Problem solving... Note the caw of frustration before it solves the problem...
David Attenborough, in one of his wonderful nature videos...
Tool use isn‘t the only indication of intelligence. Magpies can show that they are self-aware in this classic experiment.
It is not universally true, however—not all magpies know themselves...
Finally we look at jays caching and hiding behavior...
I‘ve been fascinated with all that I've learned about avian intelligence. I hope that you find it just as interesting. Thanks for stopping by.