Zebra Finches

Nature v. 430, 22 July 2004, p. 414,

"A social call" by Christopher B. Sturdy reviews a report on the discovery that male zebra finches "respond to their mate's calls according to the social situation," specifically, whether or not there's another mated pair in the vicinity.

It seems to me the most important aspect of this is that it shows that laboratory studies alone may cover up natural complexities of behavior. Sturdy claims it "suggests for the first time that a non-primate may be able to assess the social relationships between other animals of its own species, an ability thought to be a mark of intelligence" and says "perhaps the most important implication of this study is that we primates are not alone in our ability to duge social context. It seems that birds are far more aware of such niceties than we have previously given them credit for.

I think what it really shows is that simple behaviors are too easily interpreted as signs of intelligence -- we humans tend to read human motivation and intelligence into all sorts of things, the "anthropomorphizing" I've referred to several times before.

Ian Taylor is fond of pointing out (and rightly so) that it is NOT our intelligence that separates us from animals, but our spirits that were created in the image of God. On the other hand, I do think human intelligence is distinct from animal intelligence.


Until Next Time,

David Bump
Philippians 3: 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. http://home.att.net/~david.bump