Page 263 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

235

VetBooks.ir

Box B11

Learning and Cognition in Birds
Jackie happell

The derogatory expression ‘bird brain’ has a to categorise cognition into different ‘domains’,
lot to answer for. Historically, birds have each allowing the animal to process and use
been considered less intelligent than mam- information of a particular kind. Three such
mals, but an increasing number of studies domains will be outlined below: spatio‐tem-
over the past few decades have established poral, social, and physical cognition.
birds as equals to many mammals in their
capacity for learning and the sophistication
of their cognitive capacities. Learning in Spatio‐temporal Cognition
birds can be broadly categorised into two
main forms. At one extreme, learning is rela- Using information about space is important
tively inflexible, and individuals learn about for many bird species. For example, migra-
specific relationships between particular tory species, or those which forage some dis-
stimuli and events. Nevertheless, such learn- tance from a home location, use a variety of
ing can be powerful and long lasting, and the navigational mechanisms and must process
performance of birds is equivalent to that of and recall information about spatial loca-
many mammals. For example, pigeons tions, paths or directions in order to find their
(Columba livia) trained on a set of 160 pho- way (Wiltschko and Wiltschko 2003). Recent
tographic slides to respond to one of each research employing GPS‐equipped route
pair, recalled these associations with little recorders carried by homing pigeons (C. livia)
loss of performance two years later (Vaughan has shown that when repeatedly released
and Greene 1984). At the other extreme, from a site, they fly on an idiosyncratic path
learning can be highly flexible, and birds can to which they become more and more faithful
apply relatively abstract rules to new situa- on each release (Biro et al. 2004). This and
tions, rather than learning associations by other evidence strongly suggests that the
rote. Some show the ability to reason about pigeons use visual landmarks to memorise
relations between objects (such as whether and recognise their path, which may help to
two items in a pair match), applying those explain why pigeons’ visual memory capacity
relations correctly to novel situations by is so extensive and enduring.
analogy (Smirnova et al. 2015). Spatial cognition is also important for food‐
There is substantial variation in learning storing or caching birds, which make use of
and cognition between different taxonomic seasonal gluts by storing food for later con-
groups of birds, depending upon the percep- sumption. Many food‐storing bird species
tual abilities, social environment, and ecologi- remember where they have placed their stored
cal niche of the species. It is therefore helpful food, and recall those locations with some

Zoo Animal Learning and Training, First Edition. Edited by Vicky A. Melfi, Nicole R. Dorey, and Samantha J. Ward.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.