In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan 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. Kaplan brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds. Bird Minds is the first attempt to shine a critical and scientific light on the cognitive behaviour of Australian land birds. In this fascinating volume, the author also presents recent changes in our understanding of the avian brain and links these to life histories and longevity.
Following on from Kaplan's well-received books on the Australian Magpie and the Tawny Frogmouth, as well as two earlier titles on birds, Bird Minds contends that the unique and often difficult conditions of Australia's environment have been crucial for the evolution of unusual complexities in avian cognition and behaviour.
By:
Gisela Kaplan
Imprint: CSIRO Publishing
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions:
Height: 245mm,
Width: 170mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 382g
ISBN: 9781486300181
ISBN 10: 1486300189
Publication Date: 01 August 2015
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Preface 1 Australian conditions and their consequences 2 Brain size, long life and resourcefulness 3 Foragers, food-switchers and innovators 4 Tool use 5 Nest and bower builders 6 Play behaviour 7 Mimicry and imitation – the cognitive dimensions 8 Social and vocal learning 9 Emotions, communication and cognition 10 Communicating intentionally 11 Abstract concepts and states of mind 12 Which native birds are smart? Epilogue Glossary References Appendices Index
Reviews for Bird Minds: Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds
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
