> A few years ago, I read somewhere (Scientific American?, New York Times science
> page?) that chickadees actually have the ability to generate new neurons in
> their brains. Apparently, the rate of new cell development is seasonal. This
> led one researcher to theorize that this ability makes it easier for them to
> build the mental maps they need to remember where they stashed all those seeds!

I was just reading an article on caching and hoarding in the Nov/Dec Bird
Watchers Digest. Apparently, this study (or another similar one) was
done by two collaborating scientists - Dr. Fernando Nottebohm of
Rockefeller Univ. and Dr. Anat Barnea of Tel Aviv Univ. They injected a
radioactive tracer into the brains of 72 chickadees and recaptured 42 six
weeks later. There was a control group in an aviary. The free birds had
a greater amount of new neural growth and the peak of regeneration was in
October. 2 percent of the neurons were being replaced daily in the part
of the brain associated with memory storage and spatial learning.

I'm not a scientist - forgive my non-scientific summary!
Debbie