The Human Nature of Birds: A Scientific Discovery with Startling Implications

by Theodore Xenophon Barber

Book Overview

A provocative new study of birds, humans, and the deepest prejudices of Western science--developed from six years of independent research by a behavioral scientist. In the spirit of the New York Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Dogs. Color photos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031209308X
• ISBN13: 9780312093082
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Not Such Birdbrains, After All

One question science fiction writers often duck as they hypothesize humans meeting other intelligent beings is: how will we recognize intelligence in alien beings who might be radically different? Theodore Barber has assembled an impressive array of material to suggest that humans have been overlooking other intelligent creatures here on our own planet. It has been recently discovered (2008) that the humble godwit migrates 7,000 miles over open water in just a few days which supports the contention of this author that birds are NOT birdbrains. His chapters on communication, music and play, flexibility in behavior will not surprise anyone who has had close contact with a parrot or cockatiel in a domestic setting, or who has had the opportunity to observe a crow or raven over a period of time. Many people have heard of Alex, an African Grey Parrot who participated in a long running study on language. There are other stories in this book equally remarkable. Birders and students of animal behavior will find much to delight them. With so many species of birds under stress from loss of habitat and human induced pollution and chemicals, the message in this book gains greater urgency and importance. Can we humans recognize other types of intelligence before it is too late? Or are we birdbrains? Fittingly, this book was published by Penguin Press.

Facinating account of the intelligence of birds and animals

I can't tell you how glad I am I found this book at a bookstore. I learned so much about birds, other animals and even insects. Reading this book is the first time I really read about Alex the famous African Grey parrot, who is capable of so many things we consider human, such as counting, identifiying colors, shapes, textures, and can request what he wants with sentence as a human can. Not only African Greys are intellegent, this book discusses and gives amazing stories about so many types of birds, from pet budgies to wild birds. I learned facts about avian navigation and body language and their songs. Many facts were brought up about wild birds (and pets) that seemed so human I was amazed. I felt I was really getting an intimate look at the world of birds as I read this book. The author also included a chapter called "Are all animals intellegent?". I was very excited to read this as I learned things about gorillas, chimpanzees, dolphins, whales, and even fish, ants and honeybees that amazed me. There is a very nice set of color photographs in the middle of the book, the first one of a rosella grooming a cockatiel being my favorite. If you love animals or have a curiosity about the intellegence of animals, I highly recommend this book!

Funny. Not funny haha funny, but eerily accurate funny.

I could almost hear the sniggers after reading this book and was not surpised to find the lead review here disclaiming this work as 'simplistic.' Actually, biology is simplistic. Mammals are evolved from a recent common ancestor and built around a pretty homogenious genetic bluprint. Biotech is taking advantage of this simple fact; a company in California has engineered a lab mouse possessing the entire human immune system: humans and mice are simply that closely related functionally and genetically. Birds are not mammals, but they are vertebrates. The brainiest vertebrates besides mammals in fact. Some of the more highly developed birds (parrots) indeed possess more neural and cognitve fire power than the least developed mammals (small shrews). This book is important in that it challenges some long held false dogmas of standard biology going back to the dark ages, namely that humans and animals are distinct. Reality check: humans ARE animals. By and large mammals are variations on an homologous theme. Birds, being vertebrates, are highly analogous with, if not homologous in that they are vertebrates with mammals, which are, you guessed it, vertebrates; mammals and birds, two very brainy vertebrates. What does it mean to be a brainy vertebrate? The dogma Dr. Barber imposes on here is that to anthropomorphize is a scientific sin. To anthropomorphize is to assume that one brainy vertebrate could possibly have similar cognitive and emotional experiences as another. Mammals have large brains and can cognize, birds have large brains and can cognize. This isn't an oversimplifying anthropomorphization, it's a fact, it's the scientific identification of a universal. Not only do mammals as a class possess practically identical adreno/hypothalamic hormones and neuropeptides (what defines soul? ask an endocrinologist), but so does the lowly vertebrate the hagfish. No one said it better than the cantankerous genious Schopenhauer, "No one who himself has any intelligence will doubt its existence in the higher animals." After perusing the experimental evidence of the likes of Dr. Pepperberg's Alex, one can hardly doubt the higher intelligence of birds as rivals in neural processing capacity with mammals in the phylum chordata. Let's face it people, intelligence is a function of brains and birds have some significant gray matter relative to the animal kingdom at large. Biologically in fact we may anthropomorphize over the common terms of the subphylum vertebrata and that consciousness derives from brains. Facts long eschewed by anthropocentric metaphysicians, but long overdue in biology as a science. Kudos to Dr. Barber for his bold illumination of these simple biological facts. A helpful reference work for those pursuing cognitition as a hard science.

Thought Provoking Account of the Intelligence of Birds

Too often, behaviorists and their ideas have dominated our thinking. We had been led to believe that animals are just machines. "Bird brain" has become synonymous with ignorance. This book shatters such notions. Correct or not, it forces the reader to a better appreciation of the cognitive and emotional capabilities of the animals with whom we share this planet.

Not just for bird lovers - a fascinating read!

Love, joy, rage, friendship, pain, passion, subterfuge, loyalty, tragedy, and heroics ...invisible to us, and in every tree! This astonishing and readable book is a jolt - the high speed lives of birds are more complex, fascinating, and human than we thought. A terrific lay science book which will hook even non-bird lovers. Despite some repetition of the author's soap box views on ecology, this book sustains interest with a mix of terrific anecdotes, science and philosophy. Highly recommended.