Bird Minds: Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds
Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds.
Following on from Kaplan's well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, Bird Minds demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be.
She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels.
Details
ISBN: 9781486300181
Audience: General
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 280
Publication Date: 1 Aug 2015
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Publication City, Country: Melbourne, Australia
Dimensions (cm): 24.5(H) x 17(L) x 1.6(W)
Weight (gm): 382
Reviews
"The book covers with competence the most traditional topics of avian intelligence, including nest building, mimicry, tool use, imitation, play, social and vocal learning but also more neglected topics, such as brain and behavioural asymmetries. [...] Overall, the book provides a scholarly but also very enjoyable reading on the intelligence of birds, and should thus be a recommended reading even to non-specialists."- Giorgio Vallortigara, Centre for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy