A Bird Brain Has Better Chances To Survive Climate Change, Scientists Say

Evolutionary biologists and ornithologists from the University of Bath, United Kingdom, studied the relative size of bird brain in various different types of birds inhabiting the polar regions and in the equatorial regions. The findings obtained by the analysis of data obtained from the study of over 1,200 species suggest that the birds living in harsh environmental conditions or places where the weather is extremely unpredictable have bigger brain size as compared to their body size.

It is suggested that birds that had to adapt everyday by changing strategies for finding food and shelter have developed larger brains. According to scientists, these birds are smarter than the birds inhabiting the equatorial region and have better chances of surviving catastrophic environmental changes associated with climate change, Times of India reported.

Tamas Szakely at the University of Bath said, "Birds are amongst the brainiest creatures on the planet - they learn quickly, remember hundreds of locations and are capable of using and making tools" and "So it is not surprising that most birds have big brains compared to their body size."

These results contradict the age old notion that birds have small brains and they are not so intelligent creatures on this planet. This was the basis behind the commonly used idiom "bird brain," which is usually used to mock foolish people.

The study was published in the Nature Communications journal. It suggested that as climate change and its consequences are expected to intensify in the coming years, which may further cause occurrence of natural disasters such as cyclones, storms, droughts and floods, the birds that have evolved with larger brains and learned the ability to survive in harsh and changing climate conditions have better chances of surviving such natural calamities than the birds that do not.

"These results have significant implications for climate change. We predict that smart creatures may cope better with these changes than less brainy ones," Szakely said.