@syz No, I was asking why humans are so brainless as to use “bird brained” as an insult to someone’s intelligence. I’d seen the video on crows, and some other footage on Alex. Griffin and Einstein were new to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the explanation of Dr. Pepperberg’s continued work. When you think that these animals are accomplishing these mental feats with brains the size of our fore-thumb, and that they have the mental horsepower left to manage survival and airborne navigation over daunting distances, it’s truly humbling.
@ucme We’ve got plenty of humans that seem dumber than a dodo, so I’m not sure that even those less-than-stellar avian IQs qualify the entire subclass, Neornithes, for their reputation as being stupid. After all, they have been around (as in survived) since the age of the dinosaurs. We humans can boast 4 million years at best. And given the way we’re going, it isn’t at all clear how many million more we will last.
As far as donkeys and mules are concerned, their reputation for being stubborn is probably a sign of their intelligence, not lack thereof. I wish I could find it now. I read a fascinating true story by a WWII army scout who was riding a donkey on a treacherous mountain trail at night. The mule suddenly came to a halt. The soldier thought it was utterly vital that he continue on and get his report back to headquarters ASAP, so he dismounted and proceeded to beat the hapless animal in an attempt to get it to move, but it stubbornly stood its ground. Finally in frustration, the soldier unrolled his pack and slept out the night. The next morning upon awaking to the first rays of dawn, he clearly saw that the donkey had stopped two steps short of walking over a cliff where the path and whole side of the mountain had been blown away by an explosion.