Bird brains? No, parrots are just as bright as apes!

IF you ever thought our feathered friends are feather-brained, think again.

Scientists have found some birds are as clever as apes – boasting more brain cells despite having much tinier brains.

Crows and parrots can use tools and recognise themselves in a mirror, and parrots have learned to speak.

Scientists measured the numbers of brain cells in 32 different bird species, including crows, parrots, emus and owls.

They found that the average bird’s brain had twice as many brain cells per gram as the average mammal. For example, despite weighing nine times less than a mouse, a tiny goldcrest has 2.3 times more brain cells.

And a raven’s brain weighs 10.2 grams with 1.2billion brain cells. But a capuchin monkey’s weighs four times as much at 39.18 grams – with just 1.1billion neurons.

The experts from Charles University in Prague wrote: ‘Brains of songbirds and parrots contain very large numbers of neurons, at neuronal densities considerably exceeding those found in mammals. Because these “extra” neurons are predominantly located in the forebrain, large parrots and corvids [crows and ravens] have the same or greater forebrain neuron counts as monkeys with much larger brains.’

Because the neurons are packed tighter in their tiny skulls, it may speed up how fast they can process information, boosting their ‘cognitive abilities’.

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper, the experts reported that, in many respects, birds are now regarded the intellectual rivals of chimps, gorillas and orangutans. They wrote: ‘Corvids and parrots appear to be cognitively superior to other birds, rivalling great apes in many psychological domains. They manufacture and use tools, solve problems insightfully, make inferences about causal mechanisms, recognise themselves in a mirror, plan for future needs, and use their own experience to anticipate future behaviour of conspecifics [their own species] or even humans.’

Less intelligent birds such as emus, red junglefowl – a wild ancestor of the chicken – and pigeons have lower densities of brain cells.

Singing complex songs seems to be a marker for intelligence.

A songbird such as the great tit has a brain 50 times smaller than a red junglefowl, but around the same number of neurons.