City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
We city dwellers may have to put up with traffic, atrocious parking situations, street urchins, and incessant sirens blaring in the background, but at least we've got smarter birds. That's right. Our birds have bigger brains than your birds.
Scientists surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows and anything that perches, in and around 12 cities in central Europe. They classified the birds as those that breed in the heart of the city or those that avoid the hustle and bustle. And then they compared the bird brains.
The results? Birds that prosper on the city streets have larger brains than their pastoral relations. So it seems that novel environments, including urban landscapes, may select for street smarts—at least for birds that flock toward the city lights.
So say what you want about our higher crime rates, cramped living quarters, or liberal voting tendencies, but don't knock our birds.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Are those birds circumsized?
May '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
The smarter the bird, the greater its willingness to risk proximity with larger animals for food.
Grackles are too smart for their own good. They'll eat on the hood of your car and stare back at you like they own it when you return. There's an untapped market for slingshots in this country.
I eagerly await the study about the suicidal tendencies of urban squirrels.
Dec '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
And what's next intelligent circumsized city squirrles..?
Edited on May 3, 2011 at 6:33pmMar '11
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
It just goes to show that living in big cities is for the birds.
Oh, c'mon. You knew someone would.
Jan '11
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
So, when I call someone a birdbrain, I suppose I should specify urban or rural.
May '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
I just don't buy it. If God in His goodness has given birds the slightest sense of the aesthetic, I just can't imagine that the smarter birds would opt to hang around our (magnificent though they are) concrete jungles.
I do some hiking in our local parks and wild areas around here, and I watch the birds. I may be mistaken but, when I see goldfinches on windswept thistles or turkey vultures soaring overhead, then go back home to the city and see the finches, sparrows and morning doves in the backyard, I always wonder to myself about the birds and ask, "wouldn't you rather be in the country, away from the din and drive of this place? I know I would."
But what do I know about birds?
Jul '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Kervinlee:
But what do I know about birds? · May 3 at 8:27pm
Man, a half of a discarded Big Mac bun in a trash can provides more sustenance than a country bird can scavenge in a week. Animals survive on a calculation of how much energy they expend versus how many calories they take in. City birds are smarter than Paul Krugman.
May '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Kenneth
Kervinlee:
But what do I know about birds? · May 3 at 8:27pm
Man, a half of a discarded Big Mac bun in a trash can provides more sustenance than a country bird can scavenge in a week. Animals survive on a calculation of how much energy they expend versus how many calories they take in. City birds are smarter than Paul Krugman. · May 3 at 8:34pm
Of course, your argument is correct, Kenneth. But it has driven a lance through my poet's heart.
Don't worry; I'll get over it.
Dec '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Elephants have a bigger brain than donkeys.
Donkeys have a bigger brain than goats.
Goats have a bigger brain than snakes.
In politics, snakes win elections.
Aug '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Charles Gordon: Elephants have a bigger brain than donkeys.
Donkeys have a bigger brain than goats.
Goats have a bigger brain than snakes.
In politics, snakes win elections.
Hey, that's me!
So what should I run for?
Dec '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Hey, that's me!
So what should I run for? · May 3 at 9:36pm
For the hills, my friend, run for the hills.
Aug '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Charles Gordon
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Hey, that's me!
So what should I run for? · May 3 at 9:36pm
For the hills, my friend, run for the hills. · May 3 at 9:44pm
Bit difficult, seeing as I how I haven't got legs.
Could slither, though.
May '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
The bigger heads explain leftwing smugness, I suppose.
Jan '11
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Rember a documentary about birds and at a chemical plant in central america (can't remember the exact country) the birds would fly into the plant in the morning then leave at sundown every day. It was not clear what the benefit was: safety from predators in the nearby jungle or heat from the surroundings but it was a remarkable site. Mind you the chemical plant was covered in guano.
Jul '10
Re: City Birds Smarter Than Country Birds
Kenneth
Kervinlee:
But what do I know about birds? · May 3 at 8:27pm
Man, a half of a discarded Big Mac bun in a trash can provides more sustenance than a country bird can scavenge in a week. Animals survive on a calculation of how much energy they expend versus how many calories they take in. City birds are smarter than Paul Krugman. · May 3 at 8:34pm
Yes, but so are country birds. And dodo birds.