• Dale@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You’re supposed to reevaluate brain size as a measure of intelligence. The expression “bird brain” is so outdated we need to stop using it. Bird neurons are significantly smaller than ours, so they can fit a lot more brain in a smaller volume.

    While you’re at it, you should probably reevaluate everything about intelligence and memory because apparently jellyfish have memories despite having no brain or ganglia of any kind.

    • qarbone@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m not an older sibling in a 90s-era kids sitcom, so I haven’t used the phrase “bird-brain” in decades…

    • kaesaecracker@leminal.space
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      1 year ago

      Also some insects dissolve in their cocoons to a handful of cells and yet still maintain memories from their larva stage

    • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
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      1 year ago

      Bird neurons are significantly smaller than ours

      The neurons themselves? Because human axons are already as small as can be; they sometimes missfire because of this (brain is built around that, no worries).

    • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They also understand social order and merc crows that are excessively rude thieves and whatnot. It’s a bit brutal but it’s indicative of individual identity and longer term memory.

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If I’ve learned anything from Stargate, such knowledge leads directly to the ability to build self-propelled autonomous space mines.

    • don@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Now a real killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, he would have immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun.

    • hakunawazo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They are not the smartest guys out there, but at least they managed to kill the main bad guy of the movie:

      oh sorry

  • jopepa@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s a crow and seagull war around where I work. Pretty wild sky fights, but otherwise typical bird business. One time I heard what sounded like a tornado of crows outside, so I went out to see if some kind of crow Voltron was assembling. Outside was every crow I’ve ever seen screaming and swooping around one unlucky seagull that was tangled in fishing line and hanging from a tree. I cut it down untangled it and it flew off but what really freaked me out was how quiet all of the crows got when I got involved. I can’t prove it and I don’t know how they did it but I know the crows did this.

    • Slacking@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Crows laying traps for other birds would be wild. Survival books sometimes talk about laying snares for birds in trees using wire.

      • jopepa@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s what I thought at first too but there were no knots, bait, or hooks. Just a tangled messy of fishing line. When it all went silent and I could see that seagull swaying upside down it felt like something out of True Detective.

  • gila@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Everytime I hear this I can’t help but imagine some researcher out in the wild taking a twig or something off of a magpie, the swoopy boi retaliates and the researcher is like “corvids understand the concept of zero?!”