Crows and parrots’ brains are about a tenth the size of the mammals’ brains, but researchers believe the birds have developed equal cognitive abilities due to facing the same challenges in the wild over hundreds of millions of years evolution.
The research consisted of assessing research results gathered throughout the years. The assessment says bird cognition includes abilities such as hoarding food and reasoning.
Professor Onur Gunturku, head of Biopsychology at the University of the Rurh, and Professor Thomas Bugnyar of University of Vienna made the claims in the Journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Gunturkun said corvids (the family of birds crows belong to) and parrots are capable of thinking logically. He said they can recognize themselves when they look in the mirror and they have empathy.
When it comes to thinking, birds and apes use different brain structures. The neocortex is the part of the brain that mammals’ use to control cognitive skills. Birds use a structure called the pallium to control complex mental tasks.
The researchers reached the conclusion that neither a big brain or a multi-layered cortex is required when it comes to complex mental skills.
