Posted on 01/06/2017 7:18:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
Often dismissed as bird-brains, chickens are showing they’ve got some smarts
As we get ready to launch ourselves into the Year of the Rooster, here’s news that could give you new respect for the humble chicken.
Researchers have determined that chickens are smarter than we think, have a good measure of self-control, and might even have Machiavellian tendencies.
A study published this week in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Animal Cognition, revealed that those bird-brained chickens are actually pretty smart, as most backyard chicken farmers have long maintained.
Neuroscientist Lori Marino authored the paper, which compiled the conclusions of several studies showing that chickens demonstrate self-control and self-assessment, which may indicate self-awareness. They also show the capacity for cunning and duplicity, which Marino described as Machiavellian-like social interactions.
Marino is the executive director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that supports basic animal rights.
Among the observations in the paper:
Chickens possess some understanding of numbers and basic arithmetic.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
"Whaddya mean we might be as smart as dolphins?"
The guy who played Mr Haney on Green Acres once told a supposedly true story about a chicken at some local carnival or state fair that would 'dance' when you put a coin in the slot. He said the floor the chicken stood on was an electrically wired hot plate. That it would heat up with the coin drop.
When I was a kid, they had a chicken at Knotts Berry Farm that could play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on a little toy piano to get a payoff of chicken feed from a machine. I remember going away quite impressed.
David Brin, call your agent.
Awww.. I like cats and dogs, got one of each myself.
“When you find yourself in danger
When you’re threatened by a stranger
When it looks like you might take a lickin’.
There is someone waiting
Who will hurry up and rescue you
Just callllll out for Super Chicken!”
“You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.”
So we will be getting Weemsco chicken now?
A freaking ball bearing has 500% more brain mass than a chicken.
OK, here’s a test.
Put one chicken and one dolphin together.
Chicken clucks; Dolphin chirps.
First one to translate what the other one ‘says’, wins.
I don't remember it. But then I didn't spend much time in Chinatown. However, I'm actually around that area more now than when I lived in Manhattan. Next time I'll look for that place with the sign.
Too true.
My dad had about eighty chickens. One chicken, Gertrude, was smart enough to escape the coup and hang out around the house. My dad loved Gertrude. One night I shared some beer with Gertrude. She loved it and got wasted, the the next morning I feared I had killed her but she just had a bad hangover. I figured she wouldn’t want beer after that, but every time she found me outside with beer, she would get totally wasted which was funny to watch, get a bad hangover, then do it again. She was my first drinking buddy.
You had a stewed chicken.
Heh, Super Chicken episodes are on YouTube. Watched them a month or so back..
smart enough to end up on my dinner plate...
Really? Then why don’t we see commercials with chickens saying eat more beef?
She was the one chicken we never ate.
There is a recipe for drunken chicken. Wouldn’t even have to prep her!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.