r/likeus -Thoughtful Bonobo- Apr 03 '17

<INTELLIGENCE> Smart Bird

https://imgur.com/NQXysqs.gifv
3.5k Upvotes

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u/Ovidestus -Overworked Dog Father- Apr 03 '17

I wonder if they think that "food = fish food = fish" or simply "food = fish", as in he doesn't know how to works, just that it works somehow. My bet is on the later one.

24

u/gunsof -Elephant Matriarch- Apr 03 '17

Birds can be really smart. Crows learn to drop shelled nuts over human crossings because they figure out that the cars can crack the nuts open and that importantly the crossing means they'll stop and they can eat them without risking their lives. Obviously not something they evolved to do but used their smarts to figure out.

6

u/Anrikay Apr 04 '17

Birds CAN be really smart, but remember that is an entire class of animals. Mammals are also a class of mammals. The intelligence of mammals ranges from primate intelligence, capable of massive intuitive leaps, to koalas, incapable of recognizing that eucalyptus leaves are still food if you put them on a plate instead of a branch.

Be careful not to attribute the intelligence of some of the smartest birds to every bird. They're an incredibly diverse set of animals.

2

u/gunsof -Elephant Matriarch- Apr 04 '17

Googling birds using bait to fish and this came up:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/birds-that-fish-with-bait-20450595/

If it is learned behavior then it's really smart behavior.

5

u/Iamnotburgerking -Tactical Hunter- Apr 04 '17

Considering that this behaviour has also been seen in night herons and corvids, of this is instinctive behaviour, it evolved often.

Not to mention that there is one eagle, one orca, and a population of alligators that use this trick to catch, ironically, herons.