Devonshire March April 18
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The Old Vet’nary<br />
by Ken Watson<br />
The intelligence of birds<br />
a friendly, family practice<br />
My dictionary defines “Intelligence”<br />
as the capacity for<br />
understanding. I prefer to think<br />
of it as the ability to cope with life.<br />
Birds are a perfect example, and as<br />
their lives are short evolutionary<br />
improvements built up fast over<br />
generations, as opposed to, say<br />
elephants or horses. Think what<br />
they have achieved since they<br />
branched off from dinosaurs. The<br />
Turkey of today is probably the<br />
closest to dinosaurs. Look at it<br />
closely and you can see how scales<br />
became feathers.<br />
Most of these improvements have<br />
come about either by genetic<br />
aberrations or from renegade<br />
individuals who have suddenly<br />
devised better ways of coping<br />
with life. Some of these variations<br />
have been successful, but most<br />
have just disappeared in the soup<br />
of life. Young birds learn most<br />
from parents, but they also copy<br />
each other. There are examples<br />
of sheer stupidity, such as the<br />
Pied Wagtail which attacks its<br />
image in the wing mirror of a car,<br />
or the Crow who pecks at a pingpong<br />
ball, but mainly their foibles<br />
have one aim, the procreation of<br />
the species. The classic example<br />
of Tom Tits stealing cream from<br />
milk bottles on doorsteps is<br />
said to have started in an area<br />
North of London, from where it<br />
spread like wildfire by copying to<br />
the most of the country. Many<br />
innovations have to do with<br />
sexual display. We have all seen<br />
the swooping stalled flight of the<br />
Pigeon, usually accompanied by a<br />
distinct clap of the wings. Various<br />
species perform a complicated<br />
dance before their partner and<br />
presumably have learnt this<br />
from their fathers. The Bower<br />
Bird woos his intended with a<br />
display of bauble collected, bottle<br />
tops, pieces of coloured glass<br />
or plastic. He will smooth out a<br />
stage to display them and then<br />
enhance the whole shebang<br />
by pulling adjacent long grass<br />
into an arch to make a bower.<br />
The female will come to view.<br />
If it does not impress her, she<br />
will fly off. Then he will either<br />
rearrange his treasures or fly away<br />
in search of new trinkets, some of<br />
which he might steal from other<br />
displays; but he had better not<br />
be gone long or his own trove<br />
might be burgled. Many other<br />
tricks have been acquired, the<br />
use of sticks as tools by Crows,<br />
...Providing the highest standards<br />
of professional veterinary care<br />
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Saturday: 8.30am - 12.30pm<br />
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or advice please ring 01752 700600<br />
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Plymouth PL6 5BH<br />
the way some birds will carry<br />
moss to their nest to squeeze<br />
out moisture for their nestlings or<br />
a Woodpecker honey laden bark<br />
for its young to suck. It is said that<br />
Jackdaws kept for experiments<br />
to test their intelligence come<br />
eagerly to their experimental<br />
puzzles every morning. I have<br />
seen such a phenomenon in my<br />
IVYBRIDGE<br />
01752 690999<br />
Cornwood Road, Woodlands,<br />
Ivybridge PL21 9JJ<br />
Part Time Clinic at Yealmpton<br />
own garden. I have a fat ball<br />
feeder with a squirrel guard, but<br />
I have lost the lid. Before long a<br />
cheeky House Sparrow realised<br />
that it was easier to squeeze down<br />
the tube from the top and then<br />
come out backwards. Soon they<br />
were all doing it, even the Greater<br />
Spotted Woodpecker who was a<br />
pretty tight fit.<br />
'Wilson'<br />
by Richard Woodward<br />
Yet not all accomplishments<br />
come from copying. The young<br />
Cuckoo’s parents have left for<br />
Africa probably before it is even<br />
hatched, but it knows its own<br />
route to Africa and what to do with<br />
its egg on return to this country<br />
next Spring. The last batch<br />
of young Swallows or Martins<br />
can find their migratory route<br />
without parental guidance, and<br />
what about their use of magnetic<br />
lines for migration. Get my drift<br />
about intelligence?<br />
On the other hand, the amount<br />
of infidelity among birds would<br />
amaze you. Most Robins have 2<br />
or 3 wives, but the females are<br />
also up to the game and often nip<br />
off to a lover, so that any clutch<br />
of eggs in a nest may have more<br />
than one set of genes. Oh what<br />
a world it is out there. Reminds<br />
you of human-kind!<br />
- Ken Watson<br />
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