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.
