# What is considered to be the most intelligent bird? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905 "2003-07-12T04:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/21 "2003-07-13T05:40:20Z")
African Grey Parrots are thought to have an equivalent IQ to that of a five year old child. Our African Grey would demonstrate his intelligence through a well developed sense of humour… If the cat was sleeping in the livingroom he would quietly come down from his cage, sneak up behind the cat, and then scare the hell out of it by doing his rabid Doberman impersonation. As the cat bolted he would stroll back to his cage laughing his head off… He would converse with a purpose rather then just mimic thi8ngs he had heard. He especially loved messing with the other animals and my wife by pretending to be me. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/22 "2003-07-13T11:48:24Z")
In that kea article it says that African greys can actually carry out rudimentary conversations in English. That’s pretty astonishing. Meanwhile in the Sunday Times this morning there’s an article about a driver who caused a three-car pile-up because he was turning round to tell his cockatiel to shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/23 "2003-07-13T19:38:06Z")
Go to the Scientific American Frontiers video I linked above. It’s about a 10-minute clip from the show, which gives a pretty good overview of what Alex can do. ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/24 "2003-07-13T23:38:36Z")
Bernd Heinrich’s “The Mind of The Raven” is an interesting book detailing how the large black birds behave…it has some really insightful stories and research. ---
**Author:** ![Aristarchus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Aristarchus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aristarchus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/25 "2003-07-13T23:59:37Z")
The problem with tests is the test would be designed to favor certain species of birds over others. For instance, if part of a bird intelligence test included ability to swim out to an floating object, submerge with it and drop it into an underwater hole, well, very few birds would be able to take the test. Now that was a very broad, absurd example to lead to the next point: Some birds would be predisposed to behave in certain ways that would either give them advantages or disadvantages in the tests. Crows certainly cannot talk with the same ability of the Moluccan, for instance. Some birds I’ve read about can readily identify geometrical shapes once they’ve learned them. But perhaps birds that would not do well in geometrical shape recognition would perform better at dropping walnut shells on roadways as mentioned above. Test design is almost an art. And to test animals without understanding how animals perceive and exactly what their physical limitations are–we’re just on the cutting edge of that kind of knowledge–becomes at best a circus show. Remember the bird and duck in _Peter and the Wolf_? The bird boasts about how well he can fly and the duck boasts about how well he can swim. They taunt each other with their separate superior skills. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/26 "2003-07-14T08:15:19Z")
Great post, **Aristarchus**. Welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/27 "2003-07-14T12:06:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yawndave \* > Bernd Heinrich’s “The Mind of The Raven” is an interesting book detailing how the large black birds behave… An excellent book by an unusual man who is probably the world’s expert on ravens. He states that essentially all humans who have had ravens as pets believe they are the most intelligent animal. He compares problem-solving in crows and ravens. Problems that crows solve after much trial and error are occasionally solved by ravens on the first attempt. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/28 "2003-07-14T13:35:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Feynn \* > \*\* > Our African Grey would demonstrate his intelligence through a well developed sense of humour… > > If the cat was sleeping in the livingroom he would quietly come down from his cage, sneak up behind the cat, and then scare the hell out of it by doing his rabid Doberman impersonation. As the cat bolted he would stroll back to his cage laughing his head off… > \*\* You have got to videotape this and send it to America’s Funniest Videos. I think you’d win $100,000 easily. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/29 "2003-07-14T15:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolf\_meister \* > The albatross knows how to “tack” (sail against the wind by soaring in a particular zig-zag pattern). That sure seems impressive. Albatrosses’ flying skills are certainly impressive. But it’s reasonably clear that this is instinct at work, more than intelligence. I think my favorite albatross fact concerns the Laysan albatrosses that nest on the Hawaiian islands. Satellite tracking has shown that they occasionally commute to islands off California and then back to Hawaii with a stomach full of food for their chick. The round trip takes something like 5-6 days. ---
**Author:** ![alimarx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@alimarx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alimarx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/30 "2003-07-14T19:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* > \*\*In looking up info on smart birdies, I came across this website: [Victor the Budgerigar](http://www.budgieresearch.homestead.com/), wherein the mind of one bird (Victor the budgerigar, of course) is examined. Assuming the interpretations of the numerous recordings (Victor was, apparently, quite the talker; click on the “his recordings” link at the top to listen to him in action) are accurate, it would seem that there’s more to our feathered friends than meets the eye. \*\* It makes total sense to me that all creatures are evolving toward intelligence and self-awareness (humans just happened to do it first as far as we know ). However, the part of this site that states that “Victor was the first animal in the world to believe in God”, was “sad that people didn’t believe in the bible enough”, and “During the last day of his life he spent most of it standing in front of and staring at a picture of Jesus”, makes me suspect the rest of the author’s interpretations, and/or Victor’s training, were, _just a tad_, biased. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905/31 "2003-07-14T19:41:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Behold, Alex, the African Grey Parrot. > > Now that’s a smart parrot. There are videos of Alex in action here at the [Scientific American Frontiers](http://www.pbs.org/saf/1201/video/watchonline.htm) web site. > > Having owned an African Grey, I can attest to their startling intelligence. \*\* I saw that program! That bird was amazing! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-to-be-the-most-intelligent-bird/187905.md?page=1)