Learning birds

The speech centers in human brains and the song centers in bird brains have converged. .. A. R. Pfenning et al. Convergent transcriptional specializations in the brains of humans and song-learning birds. 2014. Science 346(6215), p. 1256846. DOl 10.1126/ science.l 256846. 

Animals A brain to guide total behaviour, ability to learn Birds and beasts. Zoology. 

Food-deprived chicks learning to detour away from sight of food. Through tunnel to obtain food. Placing bird on either side of divided area. 

Fed diets containing 25 or 100 mg paraquat/kg food for 60 days 981 mg/kg diet, 2- to 3-week-old birds No signs of toxicity or impaired learning (Bunck et al. 1986) Fatal to 50% after 5 days on treated diet plus 3 days on untreated diet (Heath etal. 1972 Anonymous 1974)... 

Even where birds are known to learn in order to sing according to the species norm, we know by now that this does not usually occur on a blank slate, but that a variety of innate learning dispositions channel learning in specific ways. Concerning this subject, the studies of Peter Marler and his students provided a wealth of information. 

In a classical experiment Mainardi (1965) exposed male mouse pups in their nest to an artificial odor, Chanel No. 5. As adults, these mice preferred females treated with Chanel No. 5 over those with regular mouse odor. Mammals differ from birds in that learning plays a critical role in acquiring social preferences the sensitive period is more drawn out than a narrow critical period, and effects are not necessarily permanent, and they can be overridden more easily by subsequent relearning. 

No, master. Could any man learned in the classics have been so stupid as to kill his father only two days after that dramatic denunciation and with an identifiable weapon Someone who wanted both Gentile and Zorzi removed could have done so, two birds with one stone. I could imagine the pious brother disapproving of the lecherous brother s lifestyle, but San Francesco would not approve of double homicide as a way of registering protest. Cui bono as the lawyers say— Who gains Well, the two older brothers had split the family fortune between them, hadn t they ... 

Thus we learn an important fact every self-respecting hermetic Hermaphrodite needs so the warmth of fire. This point made, then the discourse introduces the topic of a mythical bird, namely, the Phoenix [which] is unique it renews itself in the flames and rises revivified from the ashes. Nevertheless, explains Maier, the Phoenix is the Hermaphrodite with the mixed nature, of which the Philosophers speak it has a male nature and a female one, and one of these natures passes into the other by means of the addition of heat in this way, a woman becomes a man. Likewise, when a woman—Mona Lisa—becomes a goateed man, and specifically by means of the addition of [alchemical] heat, quite logically, File a chaud au queue ... 

Some bird repellents are composed of viscous, sticky materials that birds dislike having on their feet (17). These compounds, eg, Tanglefoot, Roost-No-More, and TackTrap, are often based on incompletely polymerized isobutylene and thinned with aromatic solvents. They should be formulated to have the proper blend of tackiness and viscosity for the weather, method of application, and pest species. They are applied to leave sticky residues on perching locations in buildings and roosts in trees. Because these materials do not have an obnoxious odor, the birds must land on and learn its location in order to avoid it, as there are no long-range cues in the treatment itself for conditioning. 

What will eventually happen to the cane toads Some birds have learned to turn the toads over on their backs and eat their tongues. Entrepreneurs plan to manufacture toadskin wallets. 

Nature is full of drugs. Even animals use and abuse drugs. For example, birds eat certain kinds of berries that ferment on the tree, literally getting drunk on them until they can barely stagger, let alone fly. Elephants have been known to seek out piles of grain fermenting in the fields and even learn to break into enclosures where such grain is stored. Made rowdy by the effects of the alcohol, the elephants can be a serious or even deadly nuisance. 

The newborns of birds including chickens and of some mammals such as guinea pigs and sheep can open their eyes, eat, and exhibit sleep-wake cycles similar to those found in adulthood (1—4) these animals are precocial species. The newborns of other mammals such as those of rats, cats, and rabbits are not able to open their eyes at birth and have very different sleep-wake states from their adulthood (4,5). These species are altricial mammals. There are also a variety of developmental and anatomical brain differences in altricial and precocial species that appear to relate to learning and experiential development (1). 

Selection of feed is influenced by two types of factors innate and learned. Although the chicken has relatively few taste buds and does not possess a highly developed sense of smell it is able to discriminate between certain feed sources on the basis of colour, taste or flavour, especially when a choice is available. Discriminating between nutritious and harmful feeds is learned differently in birds than in mammals since chicks are not fed directly by the parents. This learning process is aided in organic production by the presence of the parent birds during the early life of the chick. 

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