Birds, it turns out, are, collectively, incredibly smart
critters. They have skills and even
problem solving abilities that approach human capacities in some surprising and
some not so surprising ways. As Jennifer
Ackerman leads us into the research on bird cognition, we learn a great deal
not just about how birds think but also about how minds work – even minds as
different as bird and human.
As interested as I am in the mind, I don’t think I would
have come across this book on my own. I
stayed at the home of a friend (also an analyst) and, in his guest bedroom, on
the table next to the fold out couch that was actually quite comfortable to
sleep in, was this little book. It was
also next to an old duck decoy. Tired of
the stuff I was supposed to be reading, I picked it up as it was either put
there as a suggestion to a guest or something my host was in the middle of
reading (the couch was in the room that was his office). Though not a birder myself at all, I fell into reading it quite quickly and
found the descriptions of birds and their attributes lively and entertaining,
so I found a copy for myself and finished it at home, after the reluctant son
borrowed it to read most of it before finishing it. He, too, found it enthralling, but also didn’t
feel the need to get to the end – and there isn’t any need to really – it is
not a novel with an outcome, but a tale of capabilities well told. That said, the ending pulls together the
different attributes of the birds and talks about which species are likely to
survive the next 100 years of global warming and which are not. A stark and concerning reality is at hand.
Bird brains – boy doesn’t that call things to mind – turn out
to be fascinating and not at all what that moniker would suggest. They need to be much smaller than human
brains because they need to be borne aloft – and birds (according to Ackerman)
diverged from the line that would lead to humans so long ago that they are
organized quite differently than mammal brains – which we usually compare our
brains to. That said, a quick google
search of bird brain anatomy images leads to pictures of brains that are
familiar – to a point. Birds share with
us the lizard brain – the deep brain structures that are responsible for things
like breathing and heartbeat, as well as such basic animal functions as
feelings. They differ from us in the
structures of the higher brain centers – the cerebral cortex. The differences are structural (I
can see this from the images) but also conceptual, in the ways that Ackerman talks
about these brain centers getting specialized.
Diversity of cognitive capacity is talked about by Ackerman
as occurring among different species of birds.
Those, for instance, who migrate over long distances have amazing internal
maps as well as the ability to use the earth’s magnetic field, stars and sun positions, and olfactory cues to
orient themselves. Some species develop
quite sophisticated aesthetic abilities.
The songbirds have, especially in some species, incredibly aural and
oral capacities. Humans, on the other
hand, while we differ in our abilities in each of these areas, have brains that
have considerable capacity in each of these areas. We have, by virtue of being animals that don’t
have to carry our brains into the air, bigger brains with a much broader range
of capacities – across the board.
This book is an argument for brain differences reflecting
different capacities between bird species, but the abilities of those species
together argues for the genius of the class – birds as a whole are not just
smart, but have an amazing breadth of abilities. Especially as we are in the process of
articulating the ways in which institutional racism has been virulent in this
country, it is important to make the distinction that the lack of true races
allows. For us, cultural diversity – the
ability to program brains in a wide variety of ways, is what is relevant. And we profit when those culturally diverse
means of addressing issues can be brought together and used to engage in
conversation. But we have treated
culture differences, at times, as an indication of hardwired ability. We have concluded that the brains of one race, like the brains of a species, have particular aptitudes. We have simplified the task of understanding
the complexity of human cognition by dividing us into groups and then declaring
that, like bird species, this group has these capabilities and that group has
those. In fact, within group differences
are much greater than between group differences and we are, in fact, one
species with multiple cultures (programs) – not races or species-like subgroups (with different essential hardware).
Our developmental task as a species, especially in the
United States, is then to move to discovering the group differences that are
culturally based and distinguishing those from individual aptitudes that vary
between members of groups. Ackerman
points out that bird species also have intergroup differences. There are, in effect, personalities for
individual birds within a species. And
these differences are essential for the survival of species, including our own.
When I was first teaching about the brain to students in an Intro to Psychology class, I was at a big state school with a big medical and veterinary school. Most of us used a real human brain in the classroom, but one of my enterprising peers borrowed a horse brain and a cat brain and a lizard brain to demonstrate to the class how the brain evolved. Of course all of these brains were preserved in formaldehyde, so there was a powerful smell in the room. When the instructor pranked the students by musing that some people treated brains as a delicacy and then reached down to pick up a piece of cauliflower and bite into it with a resounding crunch, she was unprepared for the student in the second row to throw up. That was the last time she went to such lengths to prepare for that class!
Bird brains are smaller even than cat and squirrel brains
and comparing any individual capacities of birds with mammals is kind of cruel,
but when, as Ackerman does, you compare what birds are able to accomplish as a
species, it is possible to appreciate both the tremendous plasticity of the
brain and the tremendous variety of adaptations that a class of species can make
in order to survive – but also to thrive.
Sparrows, the most ubiquitous birds on the planet – appear to
have two strains of personality in their genetic pool. Some sparrows are thrill seekers. They try new things and are good at testing out
all kinds of new tastes when the species comes in contact with a new
environment. Other sparrows are more
conservative. They tend to stick with
the tried and true. The conservative
sparrows are much less likely to push into new territory – they tend to stay
where the risk takers have taken the flock while the risk takers move on – and the
risk takers die at a higher rate because they are willing to try things that
are poisonous, which the conservatives learn from – and learn to stay with what
works.
Some birds are, objectively, really stupid. The Dodo was apparently one of these and this
led to its demise. The stupider birds
seem to have found an ecological niche, like the conservative sparrows, and
they are well adapted to that niche, but when things change, they are not
likely to do well. In fact, they are
much more likely to become extinct – and are becoming extinct at higher rates
as we upend habitat after habitat. But
there are birds, like the crows, that are able to adapt in part because they
are good problem solvers – they can even use tools – something that we used to
think was the sole provenance of the ape family, including humans.
The interesting thing about the problem solvers is that they
are best at solving problems not when things are topsy turvy – and problem
solving would seem to be most in need – but at times and in places that are
quite stable. In these places, the young
can be quite young for a very long time and learn from the elder birds and,
when they do, they learn problem solving skills which they can then adapt to
new uses. They learn how to make
different tools, for instance, and then are able to apply them in novel ways as
adults. This mirrors our own system of prolonging adolescence by supporting our kids as they go through college and beyond - to graduate or professional school.
Tool maker’s brains are organized very differently than the
migrants. Migrants focus on navigation
and have much of their brain space dedicated to the ability to get from one
place to another. They have the ability
to map – something that cognitive psychologists were first able to demonstrate
with rats, something that started the cognitive revolution away from pure
behaviorism. Yes, psychology, the mind is an important thing to study! But migrants are not tool users
– and they aren’t singers – at least not of the same ability as the
mockingbirds and the parrots. They don't have the space to do both. Pigeons, not noted for their brilliance are, in fact, quite able to navigate.
Some big brain birds – the crows – can both solve problems
and warble in intriguing ways.
Unfortunately, they aren’t beautiful animals. Ackerman speculates that they may be the best
suited to survive, though the birds that are smartest do not have the most
offspring. There is a tradeoff. She ends her book quoting Einstein that
humans have just enough intelligence to see how inadequate our intelligence is when we are
confronted with what is. While I agree
with this, I was wishing, this morning, as I was working in the garden or, more
accurately, hacking back the jungle that is emerging in my yard and the cracks
in my sidewalk, trying to reclaim the wildness of the world – I found myself wishing
that the animals knew enough to know, collectively, what a threat we are and
that they, like the small birds in our neighborhood who gang up on the hawks
who are dining on them, would gang up on us.
You may also be interested in a post: The Overstory which is a fascinating (indeed Pullitzer Prize winning) novel about trees and the people who love (and hug) them. If you were interested in the minds part, you may find this post about the ways that Freud's ideas are informing neurology interesting.
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