Slashdot Mirror
Lizards Beat Birds In Intelligence Test
rhettb writes "Reptiles have long been thought to be dim-witted, but a new study in Biology Letters finds that the Puerto Rican anole, a type of lizard, can match birds in intelligence. Using cognitive tests that have been previously used on birds, researchers with Duke University found that the lizards were capable of solving a problem they've never encountered before, remembering the solution in future trials, and even changing techniques when presented with new challenges. In fact, the tiny anoles solved the test with fewer tries than birds."
While the study found unexpected cognitive abilities in the lizards, an expert on bird intelligence, Louis Lefebvre with McGill University, says that the study doesn't necessarily mean lizards are smarter than birds since birds still have larger body-to-brain ratios than reptiles. Instead it may mean that anoles are among the most intelligent of the reptiles.
This study shows that anole lizards are particularly quick learners when it comes to this type of test (quickly learning under which cap the food is located).
I don't think that speed of learning is necessarily definitely correlated to capacity for learning; it's possible that a parrot might learn more slowly than this lizard, but might still eventually be able to achieve more extensive and higher levels of cognitive processing.
Certain birds (parrots in particular) actually have the capability to count; have object permanence (understanding that an object still exists even when it is out of range of senses such as sight/smell/etc); have self-awareness (understanding that a mirror is showing an image of themselves, not another animal); construct and utilize tools in indirect arrangements (e.g. use one tool to obtain another tool, which is then used to complete a task); learn by observation; and organize in complex social structures with intricate communication. These are all cognitive abilities that are found in early human childhood development.
That said, this lizard is pretty cool! I kinda want one now...
I call BS. Everyone knows that the Giecko Gecko is the smartest reptile.
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
Octopus are also very intelligent quiet possible more so then birds.
I want to know if a penguin are smarter than a window or an apple!
Do not follow link. NSFW. NSF anyone or anything.... Mod parent down as troll.
When asked how they felt about being described as less intelligent than lizards, Polly Parrot replied:
-"I was flying all the way to the bank."
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
Let me be the first to welcome our Puerto Rican anole overlords.
There are many different kinds of birds. While dodos were extremely stupid, crows are even using tools to solve problems. So to what bird did they compare that lizard? A chicken, an eagle, a duck or an ostrich. We will never know.
It does not correlate at all. The important factor is surface size. Meaning many ripples == brilliant, no ripples = dumb.
Thanks for clarifying the misleading title. You rock.
I happen to be quite partial to birds since my childhood. If you give a bird, even the low-intelligence ones (such as straight-beaked paserine songbirds), something to do that is not sitting in an empty cage for all of its life, you will discover that "bird brained" is a completely false expression.
However I keep seeing people that refuse to admit that birds are something other than flying poop factories, or "little music boxes" that sit on their cage until they die. Despite proof of the contrary.
A very intelligent bird, which happens to be my favorite, the European Magpie, is absolutely hated around. But not because they eat crops from farmers...because they outsmart farmers using traps and stuff against them.
Human beings of low intelligence will immediately respond with violence. "How could a stupid bird win over ME!?"
And yet we are speaking of a bird with the intelligence of a little kid, which is self-aware, can solve situations on its own, and even use tools like we'd do.
And now that more people knows about avian intelligence...misleading titles like this come up.
I came up with the conclusion that mankind absolutely despises birds. Who knows, perhaps it's envy for their free flight, or it's genetic memory from when large avians (theoretically) predated on early hominids.
Don't forget - lizard also beats Spock.
It does not correlate at all. The important factor is surface size. Meaning many ripples == brilliant, no ripples = dumb.
That was a very smooth observation.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
That takes a bit of space, and can hardly be determined in term's of todays 'intelligence' tests.
Perhaps different species have different kinds of 'intelligence', particular to some 'test' as derived from a filter of some "scientist".
That is, we select which species are "intelligent" dependent upon the type(s) of tests we provide training to.
Regards.
It depends on what definition of "reptile" you're using, and whether you characterize it by properties (cold-bloodedness, scales, etc.) or by phylogenetics (ie. which species evolved from which). It's complicated.