Brains and senses

Intelligence

• Are birds intelligent animals?

The Krushinsky problem (Stettner and Matyniak, 1968)

• Comparative experiment of dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, pigeons, crows.

Food no fooddoors

Experiments with Game Theory – cooperative behavior

One example – Clements and Stevens 1995

C = cooperateD = defect

CD

C D

R ST P

Matrix ofRewards

CD

C D

4 11 0

CD

C D

4 21 3

Mutualism Synergism

CD

C D

4 25 1

Cruel Bind

CD

C D

3 05 1

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Clements and Stevens 1995 – Blue Jays

Opaque or transparent partition

“C” or “D” keys

Food Reward Cup

TEST: P. Dilemma Mutualism P. D.

6 Jays3 pairs

Other tests of intelligence• Simpler food-reward tests

– Stimulus-food vs stimulus-no food• Birds – no problem• Cats, Squirrel Monkeys – problems

• Counting Crows (actually ravens and parakeets)– Identify food boxes with number of objects in front of them.

• Imitation experiments– Blue Jays can learn tasteful vs distasteful butterflies from naive

neighbors

• Milk bottle feeding• Tool Use in Birds…

Egyptian Vultures

Woodpecker Finch

Green Heron

Tool Use in Birds

New Caledonian Crows

• Main site: users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/ tools/tools_main.html

• http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/manufacture_web.mov

• http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/trial7_web.mov

Very brief overview of the avian nervous system

• Functions:– obtain (via sensory receptors) information about the internal &

external environment – analyze &, as needed, respond to that information – store information as memory & learning – coordinate outgoing motor impulses to skeletal muscles & the

viscera (smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, & glands)

• Parts– CNS – brain and spinal cord– PNS –

• Includes:– Cranial and spinal nerves– autonomic nerves and ganglia– Tissues associate w/ sense organs

CNS

• CNS – Brain Spinal Cord

Functions?• Cerebrum• Cerebellum• Medulla• Spinal cord• Optic lobe

cerebrum

cerebellum

medulla

Spinal cord

Optic lobe

Olfactory bulb

Where does bird get its brain features?

From Jarvis, 2005

• Pallium:– linkage between

sensory inputs and motor outputs

– an interface between sensory and perceptual processing and mechanisms which modulate behavior

– 75-80% of forebrain in birds and mammals

• Subpallium: – Important in

coordinating muscular activity

Spinal cord

Bird croc mammal

Enlargementsassociated withfunction.

Secondary function???

• Symbols signify cells that are accumulating sex hormones (testosterone) in Golden-collared manakins.

• Testosterone may regulate movements associated with breeding behavior

Senses

• Tactile– Corpuscles (nerve receptors)

– Herbst – pressure sensitive• Bills – waterfowl• Tongues (?)• Dermis of skin, beak and legs

– Grandry – bill of waterfowl

– Merkel – nerve endings in featherless skin of bill and legs (dermis, not epidermis)

600x

1000x

Duck bill

Merkel

Mammalian Merkel schematic and prepuce

Red Knot feeding

• Piersma et al. 1998

– Hid stones in wet and dry sand– Detectable in wet but not dry– Can’t distinguish between shell and stone…

Smell

• Receptors in surface epithelium of olfactory cavities

White-chinned petrelpuffin

Taste• Back of the tongue (if any), floor of pharynx, inside of

mouth cavity

• Comparison:– Chicken = 24– E. Starling = 200– Mallard = 375– lizards = ~550– humans = 9,000– catfish = 100,000

• Some are better– Dunlins can taste where worms were and weren’t in sand– Hummingbirds can distinguish b/w different sugar soluns.

• Generally high tolerance to off-pH substances.