WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- An IQ index for birds that was designed by a McGill University scientist has given scientists new insight into avian behavior and brain evolution.
Dr. Louis Lefebvre designed the intelligence index, based on 2,000 reports of feeding innovations that have been observed in the wild and published in the world's ornithology journals.
Lefebvre says his research found links between the evolution of innovation-related brain structures in birds and primates. In both groups, greater feeding innovation, tool use and speed of learning are related to larger forebrains, he said.
Said Lefebvre: "So it all seems to provide a picture of convergent evolution. Similar solutions to brain-cognition organization seem to have evolved in the two groups, whose ancestors diverged more than 300 million years ago."
The study was to be presented during the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington D.C.
