Thanks for the really interesting posting, Rachel. It certainly paints an
entirely different picture of "bird brains." I've always thought that the
intelligence shown by corvids might be a response to the selection in that
group for very good memory because of their reliance on winter caches, and
perhaps this chickadee-neuron process supports this.


Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound email: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416