Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays

全世界最聰明的小腦袋：鴉科的智慧知名生態作家Candace Savage解析鴉科家族渡鴉、烏鴉、喜鵲和藍鳥獨特而迷人的生態鳥類經常被視為是輕浮的─美麗而且愚蠢。但根據博物學家Candace Savage的研究，「鳥腦」不該是貶意，因為在鴉科家族中，這個字的意義可能就不同了。古時候人們將鴉科視為神諭的代表，智慧的枷鎖和復仇的代理人，經過證實，鴉科的確有解決問題、製作工具和理性做決定的能力，這就表示鳥的腦容量其實可以很大，甚至智慧更勝靈長類動物。本書邀請野生動物攝影專家拍攝大量的全彩特寫照片，展示這些色彩鮮豔的鳥類，搭配作者Savage生動及深入的生態觀察，描述居住在北美和歐洲16種代表性鴉科鳥類的生活行為模式。近期研究發現鴉科類可以辨識其他鳥類的不同，甚至以名字稱呼彼此，記得住上千個曾經搬遷過的棲息地和食物儲藏點，懂得經營團隊合作和為了社交而參與遊戲等。被譽為有羽毛的猿類的鴉科家族，將重新巔覆人們對於鳥類的刻板印象。Internationally celebrated nature writer Candace Savage presents the Corvid family— surprisingly bright, brassy, and colorful birds—in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some of the world’s best wildlife photographers.Birds have long been viewed as the archetypal featherbrains—beautiful but dumb. But according to naturalist Candace Savage, “bird brain,” as a pejorative expression, should be rendered obsolete by new research on the family of corvids: crows and their close relations.The ancients who regarded these remarkable birds as oracles, bringers of wisdom, or agents of vengeance were on the right track, for corvids appear to have powers of abstraction, memory, and creativity that put them on a par with many mammals, even higher primates. Bird Brains presents these bright, brassy, and surprisingly colorful birds in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some two dozen of the world’s best wildlife photographers.Savage’s lively, authoritative text describes the life and behavior of sixteen representative corvid species that inhabit North America and Europe. Drawing on recent research, she describes birds that recognize each other as individuals, call one another by “name,” remember and relocate thousands of hidden food caches, engage in true teamwork and purposeful play, and generally exhibit an extraordinary degree of sophistication.