Expressions of Creative Animal Intelligence

Play some Games with your Feathered Friends

Though a lot of information has been gleaned about the breeding habits, song and other behaviour of birds, there is still a significant degree of lacuane when it comes to understanding intelligence and communication in birds. This article will explore certain unusual and interesting facets of avian behaviour. Things that birds like doing and somethings that humans should not be doing in order to create correct and effective communication.

Amazing powers of recall, extremely sharp observation, ability to perform clever tricks and play complex games, and ability to learn from example are some of the few astonishing qualities that birds have.

Aesthetic sense in pigeons
Can you tell the difference between a Picasso and a Monet? Except for the very aesthetically inclined, most of us would not be able to tell the difference between one from the other. Yet, if you showed your pet pigeon some fine works of art, a couple of times, you may be surprised to know that your pet's aesthetic sense may be slightly superior to your's.Chances are that, before you blink your eyelids, your pet pigeon may already have been able to tell the difference between one and another.

In a recent experiment at Cardiff University in Britain, researchers were astonished to see that pigeons with minimal exposure to design, colour and art forms could tell very subtle differences in painting styles and designs that even experienced and trained art students found difficult to tell. The pigeons were even able to recognise subtle differences in abstract designs that smart and talented art students were unable to detect.

Parrot Sense!

Your troublesome, screechy, pesky parrot probably delights in all the attention, exasperation and screaming that you resort to when your parrot tests your nerves. It's not just the toys, the swings, ladders, little perches, wooden toys, chewies and other stuff that you have brought that your parrot looks forward to as treats and games. Games are concepts in your head. For parrots, getting you to lose your temper may be an endlessly mirthful and delightful game. So, just watch out! The next time, your bird does his or her exasperating little act of screeching around, biting people's toes, saying boo to the kids, flapping and frightening strangers, just learn to be calm and restrained. It's not just these conventional things that serve as games for bored parrots.For parrots, getting you to lose your temper may be an endlessly mirthful and delightful game.

So, just watch out! The next time, your bird does his or her exasperating little act of screeching around, biting people's toes, saying boo to the kids, flapping and frightening strangers, just learn to be calm and restrained.
It's not just these conventional things that serve as games for bored parrots.

Otherwise, what you would probably be doing, as humans have a conventional way of behaving is to go and give that pet of yours the attention and screams that your pet is just waiting to hear. Remember, in parrot speak, listening to a human shouting is outrageously funny! It's a very rewarding attention grabbing trick. Therefore, you need to be alert and observant about your pet birds' antics. Parrots love drama and loud noises. They may have a lot more aces and trump cards hidden beneath their feathers.

For one thing, don't run when the telephone or doorbell rings or when the washing machine or microwave gives out a beep. Your feathered friend will be watching you. Before you know it, you may find yourself rushing to answer phony telephone calls, door bell chimes exactly in the same way that your real doorbell and telephone ring. And! That's what your pet parrot would call a great game! Every small alarming sound is an entertaining little game for your pet parrot. Whoopee! They may just love to see you run around, especially if you are in hurry to rush to work, to meet a deadline or an appointment.

It is most important to remember that in nature parrots do not normally bite other parrots. In the wild, expression of agression is limited to vocalization and other body language gestures like strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening not for biting.

Crows that use cars to crack walnuts
In an ingenious discovery, crows in Japan have found a new use for cars. The intelligent birds have been able to correlate the changing of the traffic signal lights with the movement of cars. When the lights turn red, the crows which hover around near traffic crossings hop down and drop the walnuts in front of the cars. They fly away to watch the traffic lights turn green and the cars cracking open the walnuts. When there is a slight lull in traffic activity, they swoop down to eat the nuts. And, what if a car misses some nuts, the crows just pick them up and strategically position them once again in front of the cars and wait and watch.

Astonishing recall!

Talking about memory, surely one bird with a terrific memory is the Clarke' s nutcracker. This bird collects up to as many as 30 000 pine seeds over a three week period in November. The seeds are then buried over an area of nearly 200 square miles. This bird then proceeds to perform an amazing feat of memory that perhaps very few humans in this world may excel without written records. The birds succeed in retrieving as much as 90% of the nuts, scattered in different hideouts spread over 200 square miles.

The nuts are retrieved even when buried under several feet of snow.

Tool using crows

Out in New Caledonia, an island in the Pacific sea, crows there show terrific tool making and tool using skills. They have evolved a high degree of sophistication and skill that according to some ethologists is of a level comparable to that of Paleolithic human. Caledonian crows have been observed by researchers to be using two different forms of hooked tools to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks.

Beaks can serve as scissors, pliers and can even serve as a pair of gardening prunes. The birds fashion out strong barbed, serrated rakes, combs and even hooks from twigs and stiff, leathery leaves.

Surprise! Surprise! Just imagine, the birds do not even throw away the tools after use. They keep their tools carefully and then carry them from one place to another during their foraging trips. Another bird, the woodpecker finch of the Galapagos also uses tools to pry insects out of bark. There have been reports of how a cactus finch watched a caged woodpecker finch in action and learnt the tools of the trade, so to say.

Parrots are not smart record players!

When your parrot talks to you, is your bird simply mimicing your voice or is that an attempt at intelligent communication? Well, there are observations and more observations, anecdotes and more anecdotes about what parrots have spoken. However, their actions and their behaviour many a time force one to recognise a far greater intelligent understanding to the meaning of words and their use in communication.

Once again, anecdotes by anthromophoric bird owners do not satisfy the criterion of a scientific temper and judgement.

More concrete evidence comes from the work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Through her work with an African grey parrot called Alex and other parrots and macaws, she was able to show that parrots and macaws appear to have the intelligence and understanding of a comparative level to that of a three to four year old child.

Her work with Alex showed that you can teach parrots a vocabulary of over 100 words, identify more than 35 different objects, show them how to identify colors, shapes and use them meaningfully. The use of meaningful phrases and definitive sentences like, " Yes, No, come here and go there, want something and want to go to a place x " all form a part of his regular vocabularly.

Toys for your pet bird to play with

1. Toys that you give your birds to play should be really safe. That means you need to make sure that paints used contain no lead and mercury and other VOCs.

2. You must also remember to select a toy that is appropriate to the size of the bird's beak and body size. This is so that the bird may be able to comfortably play with the toy.

3. You must make sure that the toys that you give your pet birds to play do not disintegrate easily. This is especially important if the pieces are small because then there is a likelihood of your pet swallowing them.

4. If you give your bird games to play which have a lot of netting or threads, there is a likelihood that the nets can entangle the wings, feathers, claws or neck. Therefore, take great care to make sure that your pet does not gets his or her body entangled in a snare.

5. Chains, links, buttons or plastic pieces that detach from the toy can be very, very dangerous.

6. Bells, if not constructed of heavy enough material, or those that have lightweight clappers, poorly secured clappers, or those that are "jingle"-type can be dangerous for toes and nails.

Make your own toys for your pet birds.

Sound Effects
Parrots love noise! All kinds of clanging, banging sounds fascinate these feathery friends of ours. They love screeching! And screaming! They love beating time to rhythms. In the wild, they play around screaming into hollow branches and drumming logs with sticks dropping seeds, anything that makes loud, explosive sounds.

Make your own bird friendly harmonium
You can make a very nice mechanical music composer for your parrot by tying a lot of strings in a criss cross manner across a board box. The strings should have little tinkling bells attached to them. What you can do is then strategically place pieces of dried fruits and nuts between the strings. When the birds pluck the strings, in a rhythmic manner, the nice tinkling sounds made will give the feeling of a lovely melody. You can even alter the size of the bells and the thickness of the strings to help the birds create different harmonies. The dried fruits will serve as a reward for positive behaviour.

Puzzlers
These kind of games offer a definite food reward on solution. The game may be simple to play or slightly complex. In whichever manner the game is played, there is a degree of movement involved and some application of logical exercise.

Make your own treasure caves
What you can do is use empty coconut shells to make this game. Make sure that the shells are clean and dry without any remnants of old scraps of dried coconut left on the inside. Now, what you can do is take 6 or 7 coconut shells and place them inverted. Connect each coconut to the other with strong pieces of twine. Place a lot of tinkling bells in the spaces connecting each inverted coconut shell. The games involves a strategical use of pressure. The game has been played when the bird swing on the strings fast enough to cause the coconut shells to tumble over, one after another. When that happens, a small fruit treat or any other food treat should be uncovered. This game can keep your birds occupied for hours especially if you can make sure that with each effort only one coconut shell is inverted.

Chewie Cleaners
Birds, especially parrots need to keep their beaks cleaned and honed. For this they need to have access to small rounded pieces of wood, or bark which they can chew on.

Make your own Roller coaster chewies
What you can do is make some tough looking papier mache balls, made from unprinted paper and keep them attached by strings to a pivotal central point. Keep them rolling so that the parrots or your other feathered friends have to constantly run and chase after them in order to catch hold of the balls. Leave some small irregularly, rounded pieces of wood lying around to provide some diversity for your pet birds. You can even make some really wobbly dolls with some irregularly shaped pieces of wood and leave them around in the play pen. Such toys give exercise not just to the beak but also to the feet of the birds.

The Preener
In the wild, parrots preen themselves and others in their bird colony. Preening keeps their feathers clean and shiny giving them a neat well, groomed look. The same behaviour pattern may be seen in parrots and other birds adopted as pets. Preening also serves as a great stress buster and activity.

Make your Preeny Queen
Here's what you need to do. Take some feathers, felt and cotton. Make a nice stuffed bird with big eyes and use bright coloured felt material to make the body and feathers. Leave a few feathers, threads and some frayed ends of fabric looking slightly ruffled and loose. This is sure to keep your bird occupied for hours and hours preening and preening!

Wobblers, swingers and ladder climbers
Other toys that you can make are small sliding swings, musical mobiles, ladders, rings, knotted swinging ropes and wobbly musical perches. That's sure to keep your feathered friends occupied for hours and hours.

Conclusion
Games provide an invaluable source of diversion and creative expression for animals and birds. This article has very briefly tried to explore some facets of creative expression in birds.