Chicken brains. The origin of the expression chicken brains. Chickens are able to think

The expression "Chicken Brains" has always had a negative connotation.

"CHICKEN BRAINS
what is who, whose, with whose, whose
Limited, narrow-minded, weak mind.
It means that a person or a group of persons (X) has little mental ability or a low intellectual level. It is spoken with irony or with disdain, informal. "

"Phraseologism" Chicken brains "meaning

About a stupid person, incapable of serious thought.
“Every man must carry his own cross in this damn life ... Women, Mr. Gymnasium, will not understand us. They have chicken brains "(K. Paustovsky)".

“So they say, meaning a small chicken head, in which there are few brains, as well as sometimes incomprehensible chicken behavior, because sometimes it seems that the chicken is one of the stupidest animals in the world. The expression is applied to people who do not understand anything, say stupid things, do stupid things, behave illogically. "

However, the situation is currently changing. Scientists have discovered cognitive thinking in birds with a special structure of the brain and its constituent elements - neurons, which equates birds with the minds of average primates.

"The expression" chicken brains "can now be considered a compliment

British scientists have proven that chickens are by no means stupid. So, chickens think faster than humans, researchers found
RIA News.
"Chickens do not have chicken brains," writes The Times of India, talking about another discovery by British scientists.
After their observations, the researchers found that future chickens and roosters possess a number of complex skills, including self-control and the ability to count.
It has been proven by experiment that within a few hours after birth, chicks can count up to five.
As a rule, children under the age of four cannot boast of such abilities.
Christina Nichol, a professor at the University of Bristol, who has devoted 20 years to the study of this topic, is sure that the conventional opinion about the stupidity of chickens is fundamentally wrong. She believes that birds have "many hidden talents."
Experiments have also shown that the chicks understand that the object that disappears from the field of view does exist. By the way, children under one year old cannot realize this. Another piece of evidence in favor of chicken intelligence was a test that demonstrated that chickens at two weeks old can navigate the terrain by the position of the sun.
"Chickens may not make outstanding mathematical discoveries and contribute to the development of literature, but they are able to learn skills and develop abilities much faster than a human child, which can take months and years to do this," summed up Nichol.
However, the mathematical abilities of these birds do not end there. In particular, they are born with an understanding of physics, the basics of designing structures and buildings. This is evidenced by experiments in which they showed a great interest in the schemes of objects that can actually be built, rather than those that contradict the laws of physics. "

"Chicken Brains" is no longer a curse

The macaque's brain is the size of an unpeeled walnut, while the macaque's brain is the size of a lemon. However, in the macaque, the forebrain - the part of the brain associated with intellectual behavior - contains more neurons than the forebrain of the macaque.
This fact is one of the surprising results of the first systematic study in which scientists counted the number of neurons in the brains of more than two dozen species of birds (from a tiny zebra finch to an almost two-meter emu) and found that their brains contain more neurons than a brain of the same mass. mammals. The research results were published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on June 13.
“Having a bird's brain for a long time was something bad, but now it turns out that it could be a compliment,” says study co-author Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University.
The study provides a direct answer to the puzzle that comparative neuroanatomists have been wrestling with for over a decade: How can birds with such small brains exhibit complex cognitive behavior?
This scientific conundrum emerged from a series of studies in previous years that compared the cognitive abilities of parrots and swarms to those of primates. Birds have been shown to be able to make and use tools, use insight to solve problems, draw inferences about causation, recognize themselves in the mirror, and plan for future needs. That is, birds have a number of abilities that were previously exclusively attributed to primates.
Scientists used to explain this with the help of some kind of "reserve" hypothesis: the brains of birds may have a completely different internal connectivity compared to the brain of primates. However, two years ago, this hypothesis was rejected after a detailed study of the structure of the pigeon's brain, which showed that it is organized in a similar way to the brain of primates.
A new study has provided a more plausible explanation: Birds can exhibit a variety of complex behaviors due to the fact that their forebrains contain many more neurons than anyone imagined - as many as in a medium-sized primate.
“We found that birds, especially songbirds and parrots, have a surprisingly large number of neurons in the cloak of the telencephalon, the part of the brain corresponding to the cerebral cortex that supports higher cognitive functions such as planning for the future or pattern detection. This explains why birds exhibit cognitive behaviors that are as complex as those of primates, ”says Erculano-Huzel.
This situation is made possible because the neurons in the bird's brain are smaller than those in mammals and are more densely packed. The brain of a parrot, for example, contains twice as many neurons as the brain of primates of the same mass and almost four times as many as the equivalent brain of a rodent.
“When it comes to brain design, nature has only two parameters that can be controlled: the size and number of neurons and the distribution of neurons across different brain centers. And nature has twisted both of them in the brains of birds, ”explains the author of the study.
At the same time, Erkulano-Huzel and her colleagues note that the relationship between intelligence and the number of neurons is not yet firmly established and that an important finding of the study is that it demonstrates the existence of more than one way to build a large brain.
Source: https://vk.com/xx2vek "

The situation becomes even more interesting when it is discovered that the word "brain" in the ancient Egyptian language is denoted by the determinant "egg", and the word itself in the Slavic reading of Egyptian graphemes has a double meaning:
1.chicken egg
2. wise face

Hand-owl-owl-egg - amm -brain (ancient Egyptian)> Drtmm / Krmm Jjk> mudrj lik / kurinj jajco - wise face (Slav.) (Inv. Drtm, stop.d / r, replacement l / j, i / j) / chicken egg (slav.) (replacement n / m)>
ovo - egg (lat.)> oval - oval (Slav.), otherwise, a distorted shape of a circle> brain - brain (English)> mudr - wise (Slav.) (inv. brain, replacement m / n, d / b , stop b / r)

Interestingly, the human head looks like an egg (oval). So, on the Internet, the image of an anonymous person is drawn with an oval head without a face.
The expression "Chickens are counted in autumn" in the English interpretation with translation into Russian also looks very funny.
“It’s much worse when the English“ Don ”t count your chickens before they“ ve hatched ”is translated as“ Chickens are counted in the fall. ”It, of course, is there, and there we are talking about chickens. But the Russian proverb means“ we'll wait - we'll see "(how it will end), but English: don't think that everything will necessarily turn out in the best way for you - options are possible."
At the same time, the author, who is obsessed with English, does not understand that
hatched - shaded, hatched (English), otherwise, "pied" - motley chicken

Hatch - shrih / stroka - stroke / line (glory) (inverse hatch, skip r, reduction sh / ch)

Perhaps hatched> kochet - kochet (glorious) (reduction k / h, t / d), otherwise, a rooster.
So, in terms of meaning, both "motley" and "cochet" coincide with the Russian proverb.

Taking into account the fact that newly hatched chickens show the ability to count, for example, according to scientists, they count up to 5, it is also possible to interpret the expression with playing around the word "autumn" in the English version.
"Chickens in autumn consider &"
Chickens automatically count

Egg as a symbol of the creation of the world

In many legends among different people, the egg is a symbol of the creation of the world.
A detailed description of these historical myths is given in the article "The Creation of the World" by Irina Anastasiadi.
“But at the same time, the idea of ​​the supreme Unity is evident in Orphism. This is the deified element, the world bosom. In some texts it is called Chronos, Time. As we have already said in the article "Orpheus carrying the light of Knowledge" that Chronos gave birth to the light Ether of the sky and bubbling Chaos. A cosmic egg was born from them, which contained all the embryos of the Universe: gods, titans and people. This image is also characteristic of most ancient teachings. The Rig-Veda and Upanischadas, the Book of the Dead and Chinese myths speak about the cosmic egg. All of them affirm one thing: the world is not Created, but is born like a bird emerging from an egg. "
But why is the egg a symbol of the creation of the world?
Despite the abundant information that speaks of a very fruitful work and deep knowledge of world mythology, the author has no answer to this question. However, the answer is in the ancient Egyptian script.
The determinative "egg" among the ancient Egyptians means the word "brain", which in the Slavic (and not Coptic) interpretation of Egyptian graphemes means: 1. hen's egg, 2. wise face, image.
The egg is, first of all, an image of the world mind, thought, and secondly, a symbol of fertilization. "In the beginning was the Word ..." See my article "The Etymology of" In the Beginning Was the Word "in the Alternative Egyptology section.

Abbreviations

SPI - A word about Igor's regiment
PVL - The Tale of Bygone Years
SD - Dictionary of V.I.Dahl
SF - Vasmer's dictionary
SIS - dictionary of foreign words
TCE - Efremov's explanatory dictionary
TSOSH - Explanatory Dictionary of Ozhegov, Shvedov
CRS - dictionary of Russian synonyms
BTSU - Ushakov's large explanatory dictionary
SSIS - a compiled dictionary of foreign words
MAK - Small Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language
VP - Wikipedia
EBE - Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

1. Expression "Chicken Brains", https://phrase_dictionary.academic.ru/1177/
2. Phraseologism "Chicken Brains", http://frazbook.ru/2014/08/18/kurinye-mozgi/
3. The expression "Chicken brains", 4. The expression "chicken brains" can now be considered a compliment, 5. "Chicken brains" is no longer a curse, 6. Translation of proverbs from Russian into English and vice versa, https: // ru-learnenglish. livejournal.com/1637915.html
7. Irina Anastasiadi "The Origin of Life on Earth",
8. V.N. Timofeev "Ancient Egyptian-Proto-Slavic Dictionary", http://www.tezan.ru/slov_egyp.htm
9. V. N. Timofeev "Methodology for searching for Slavic roots in foreign words", http://www.tezan.ru/metod.htm

Let it really, Postumus, the chicken is not a bird,
but with chicken brains enough grief.
If it fell out in the Empire to be born,
it is better to live in a remote province by the sea.

And far from Caesar, and from the blizzard
There is no need to faw over, to be in a coward, or in a hurry.
You say that all governors are thieves?
But a thief is dearer to me than a bloodsucker.

(Joseph Brodsky - "Letters to a Roman Friend" - March 1972)

one). *** If you were provoked into a scandal by a man with "chicken" brains, so who, really, "chicken brains", isn't it you !?.

2). *** "Chicken brains" are given to a stupid person at birth, and to a sane person in the form of a delicacy.

3). *** The phrase about "chicken brains" for a sane woman is nonsense, not worthy of attention, but for the environment of a woman with "chicken brains" - chronic heartburn.

4). *** "Chicken brains" on one side, like a sailor's peakless cap, look spectacular in a chicken coop.

5). *** "Chicken brains" and stupid clucking can understand, forgive and even decorate only a comb-cock walking alongside!

6). *** "Chicken brains" no matter how much you think, you will still get "like chickens in the pluck"!

7). *** You cannot cook a healing broth from "chicken brains".

eight). *** "Chicken brains" are not contagious, but it is better to protect yourself from their influence!

9). *** In the matter of correcting "chicken brains" science is powerless.

10). *** The quality of thinking does not change from a change in the places of the terms of the "chicken brains".

Proverbs.

(From time immemorial).

*** The hair is long, and the brains are chicken.

*** A head with a beer pot, and a brain with a spoon.

*** Head with a basket, but not a crumb of the brain.

No classic dishes can be prepared from chicken brains, because there are very few of them in the chicken skull: only four little white peas.

The intelligence of chickens is low. They are stupider than the representatives of the passerine detachment: ravens, ravens, jackdaws. The largest range of sensations they have is associated with fear.

Bird scientists argue that the term "chicken brains" will have to be revised in the near future.

They prove that birds only pretend to be stupid, but in fact are not much inferior to even some primates. But the brain of a chicken is no bigger than a hazelnut.

Birds exchange information using twenty-four different sound signals. Seeing in the sky its enemy - an eagle, the chicken falls to the ground and quietly clucks "and-and-and".

The rooster, having found food, communicates the good news to close relatives and especially to the beloved female with the sounds of "dock-dock-dock".

But these are the simplest points in the behavior of birds. In fact, they act much more sophisticated, cunning and cunning.

The rooster, seeing the danger, does not inform its male competitor about it. And only the presence of his beloved girlfriend can serve as a reason for him to raise the alarm. This means that the birds think before committing an act, and not just reflexively react to events.

The behavior of birds in the sexual sphere has become a real revelation for scientists. In the chicken family, high-quality television screens and digital recording systems were installed.

It is known that birds use not only sounds to communicate, but also complex dances. Having found food, the main rooster in the community performs a very spectacular show.

The male jerks his head up and down, from side to side, tosses and catches the delicacy, which attracts the female. And at the same time, he crows with all his throat, reminding competitors who is the owner in the harem, chases them, using his spurs.

In response, the males, slighted in the hierarchy, show miracles of deceit, also carefully perform enticing dances, but at the same time they try not to irritate the owner of the harem.

Domestic chickens have a dozen sound signals:

*** The alarm signal clearly distinguishes between air and ground enemies.

*** An alarm signal from an air enemy is a drawn-out continuous cry, and an alarm signal from a ground enemy is a fractional cry.

*** The chick, being in the egg, a few days before birth begins sound communication with the hen, using about a dozen signals for this:

*** The signal "Let me go" is a sharp sound, reminiscent of the squeak of a newly hatched chicken, if it is taken in your arms.

*** Pleasure signal - a high-pitched chirping sound with which the chick from the egg reacts to the soothing cough of the chicken or to its signal in connection with the appearance of food.

*** The nesting signal is a seeking and alarming sound emitted from the egg, expressing the chick's desire to nest under the mother's wing. The chicken reacts to it with clucking or movements, which soothes.

*** Alarm - high-pitched squeak, egg responds to chicken alert for enemies.

*** The hen can diligently hatch duck or goose eggs.

Scientists are just beginning to comprehend the true essence of intelligence inherent in chickens, but one fact is no longer in doubt: common sayings hinting at the complete lack of intelligence in chickens: "chicken brains" and "stupid as a chicken" should be considered an anachronism.

Reviews

Hello Taechka, I read about chicken brains with great interest, a lot for me is news, informative and interesting. It turns out our
the smaller brothers are not so stupid and their brains, despite their tiny size, are not bad, I read it with a smile and thought, in vain we offend chickens and cockerels, considering them stupid.

I also liked the statements: "Chicken brains are not contagious, but it is better to protect yourself from their influence." ...

I have nothing new yet.

With sincere sympathy, good wishes and respect !!!

No one is surprised that some animals are smarter than others. In particular, among birds there are very smart creatures that show intellectual abilities that, as it was previously believed, are unique to humans. For example, magpies recognize their reflection in a mirror, and New Caledonian crows create tools, and young birds learn these skills from their parents. African parrots can count objects and classify them by color and shape: they can even be taught to understand human speech. And a gray crested cockatoo named Snowball dances with pleasure to rhythmic music. However, the usual domestic chicken is unlikely to be considered an intelligent bird.

However, in recent years, scientists have discovered that chickens are cunning creatures that can only pretend to be stupid, and that in the field of communication they have abilities at the level of some primates, using a complex system of signals to convey their intentions. In the decision-making process, chickens rely on both their own experience and their knowledge of the environment. They are able to solve rather difficult problems and even empathize with relatives in danger. The new understanding of cognitive ability in chickens suggests that some of the complex intellectual qualities traditionally attributed only to primates may be more prevalent in the animal kingdom than previously thought.

The discussed research also raises the question of how ethical our attitude to domestic chickens raised in poultry farms is. After all, the realization of the fact that chicken has highly developed cognitive skills makes you wonder how morally justified is their maintenance on farms in conditions aimed solely at making chicken meat and eggs as cheap as possible.

Talkative birds

It took nearly 100 years of research to figure out exactly what happens in the brain in chickens. The first shifts were outlined in the 1920s. last century, when the Norwegian biologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe revealed the presence of a hierarchical social system in these birds, which he called the "pecking order." He made such a conclusion after he discovered that chickens defend their leading position in the hierarchy by giving blows with their beak to those relatives who, being lower in rank, dare to do actions (or even just intentions) that are not supposed to be their status.

The next major breakthrough in understanding chicken intelligence came a few decades later. The late Nicholas & Elsie Collias, who worked together at the University of California, Los Angeles, classified bird sounds and determined that there are about 24 different sound signals in the chicken repertoire, many of which are apparently used only under certain conditions. For example, when faced with a threat coming from above, say, with an eagle flying out to hunt, the birds fall to the ground and issue a quiet agitated "and-and-and". And the cluck associated with chickens in most people actually serves as a warning of the appearance of a land predator. If the rooster finds food, then it usually emits a series of persistent sounds, transmitted as "dock-dock", especially if there is an opportunity to interest the female, whose attention he was seeking.

These discoveries made it possible to reflect on the fact that much more complex processes occur in the chicken brain than it seems at first glance - even if this brain is no larger than a hazelnut. After all, it is quite natural to assume that a certain set of sounds allows chickens to transmit messages to each other, designed for a very specific reaction. However, confirming such guesses proved to be difficult. Only in the 1990s. advances in technology have made it possible for scientists to test various hypotheses in detail and identify the true purpose of calls in birds. It was then that the late Chris Evans of Macquarie University in Sydney. Australia and others have begun using high-resolution digital audio recorders and televisions to conduct controlled experiments to uncover the meaning of sounds in highly signal-rich chicken "speech." The essence of the work was. that with the help of TV screens placed around the cages, the birds were created a whole "virtual reality" in which it was possible to force the chicken to "contact" a variety of creatures - companion, competitor, predator - and record the response of the experimental bird in a given situation. The tested chickens were shown now a hawk flying over them, now a fox running towards them, and another time - a relative rooster, issuing its "dock-dock".

Experiments in virtual reality revealed a completely unexpected fact: both verbal and non-verbal signals (body movements) produced by chickens convey meaningful information that is understandable for all other individuals of the species. For example, in order to induce a defensive reaction in a chicken, it does not need to show a real predator - it is enough to give a warning signal from another bird. Animal behaviorists can rightfully call chicken speech functionally oriented. This must be understood in such a way that their sound signals denote specific objects or events, and this is generally reminiscent of the use of words in human speech. As soon as a chicken hears a certain sound, an image of a certain object appears in its brain, prompting the bird to behave accordingly - for example, to flee from a predator or to go to the feeder.

In addition, in experiments in "virtual reality", the researchers found the dependence of the signals sent by the bird on how it relates to the individuals around it. For example, a rooster that notices a threat will raise the alarm only if a female is present nearby, while in the presence of a male competitor, he will prefer to remain silent. However, the behavior of females is as selective as that of males - they sound the alarm only if they have a brood of chicks.

Summarizing these facts, it can be argued that the sounds made by chickens reflect something more than just their internal state at the level of "I want to eat" or "I am scared." In addition, they delve into the meaning of the events taking place and react to them in an impure reflexive manner, with the help of well-thought-out actions. Consequently, chickens think before doing something - and this trait brings them closer not so much to other birds as to mammals, whose brains are much larger.

Not by washing, so by rolling?

The presence of a system of meaningful signals in domestic chickens suggests that their thinking is a much more complex and developed process than previously thought. This raises another very intriguing question: since these birds have the ability to share information about events and phenomena occurring around them, can they "hold" useful information for themselves or even distribute it in a distorted form in order to obtain benefits? Scientists got the answer to this question by studying other types of signals given by chickens.

Since the 40s. XX century the researchers were well aware of the complex dances that chickens perform when they find food. The most spectacular of these is called "tidbitting": it consists of a series of movements with which the rooster (alpha male) tries to show the female that he has found something tasty for her. At the same time, he quickly jerks his head up and down and from side to side, periodically raising and tossing the found delicacy. This is the main way of attracting a female with a rooster. Scientists believed that other males should not exhibit the same behavior in order to avoid aggression from the alpha male. However, observations of chickens in their social environment have shown that the hierarchy is based on the "pecking order". - the thing is not as unambiguous as it seemed after the first experiments. Indeed, more recent research suggests that these birds can be surprisingly insidious beasts.

The true rationale for the relationship between individual chickens within a flock was initially misunderstood by observers. After all, chickens constantly seek refuge from prying eyes in tall grass or in thickets of bushes. In addition, it is simply impossible for one person to keep track of all the birds at the same time. To keep this to a minimum, one of the authors of this article (Carolynne Smith) has come up with a research scheme that she calls, in Orwellian tradition, Chicken Big Brother.

On the Macquarie University campus, Smith and her colleagues have set up open enclosures - vast natural areas bounded on all sides by nets, with lots of vegetation, many microphones and high-resolution tracking cameras to observe literally every movement and sound produced by birds. The researchers then carefully analyzed the resulting records.

As expected, in each group, the alpha male crowed constantly to remind everyone of his rights to the occupied territory. He, of course, arranged an incendiary dance "tidbit" for his females and warned the whole group when they were in danger from above.

But the real surprise was presented by the roosters, who occupied a much more modest position in the hierarchy. It seemed obvious to the researchers that they would behave as carefully as possible in order to avoid conflict with the alpha male, who would chase, peck or spur them for trying to "show off" in front of his harem. However, thanks to cameras and microphones, a much more complex picture appeared before scientists. "Secondary" males chose a different, covert tactics, previously considered impossible for birds. They performed only the motor part of the dance, without uttering a sound, which allowed them to silently attract females, without giving the alpha male a reason for aggressive attacks.

The researchers were simply shocked by such a stunning plasticity of the behavior of low-ranking males, who changed the dance ritual in such a way as to secretly seduce females. But that was only the beginning!

Scientists were able to feel the full depth of chicken cunning only when they were able to complicate the recording equipment for a more accurate study of the behavior of birds. The fact is that chicken voices were often so subtle that Smith and her colleagues were unable to hear them properly, even at maximum resolution. They needed a tool that would truly record any sound made by one chicken and heard by another.

Ideally, chickens should be equipped with small "backpacks" with lightweight wireless microphones inside - such as are carried by journalists working in the field. But where to find material suitable for such purposes? And then Smith came up with the idea to use ... bras! She started looking for old bras with simple closures and preferably black, so they didn't stand out against the dark plumage. Smith cut off hooks and adjustable straps and used them to make a kind of harness, to which she attached the microphones. Such homemade devices, called the Chicken Big Brother 2.0, were securely fixed on the chicken's chest and now recorded literally everything that the bird itself hears or says.

Scientists were especially interested in the reaction of chickens to danger. Previous observations showed that the male, when attacked by an aerial predator, such as a hawk, often "caused fire on himself", loudly shrieking about danger and thereby putting himself at the obvious risk of being noticed and captured. Researchers attributed this to. that it is vital for the male to protect his female and offspring. But Carolynne Smith wondered if there were any other circumstances affecting this type of behavior.

Research has shown that there are such factors. With the help of his invention, which allows to make out the subtlest nuances of chicken signals. Smith was able to prove that. “Trumpet” about danger, males are often guided exclusively by selfish motives. When a threat approached, males compared their chances of avoiding danger with those of their rivals and raised the alarm more often if they thought they were safer than their competitors. In general, males shout about danger more often if they hide in the bushes, and their rival walks in open space in full view of a hungry predator. With a successful combination of circumstances, a cunning rooster with one shot can kill two birds with one stone - and protect its female, and get rid of the enemy!

This strategy is known in behavioral science as “risk compensation,” and it is another character trait that is common to both chickens and humans. It has been proven that many of us take on more if there are any “mitigating” circumstances. Just as a man presses on the gas harder if he is wearing a seat belt or the car is equipped with an anti-lock braking system, so the rooster is more likely to risk his life precisely when he feels sufficiently protected.

Caring mothers

The list of cognitive abilities in chickens grows with each new discovery. Giorgio Vallortigara of the University of Trento. Italy, proved that young chickens can distinguish numbers and even use the principles of geometry. So birds, which were shown a half-drawn triangle, were able to recognize its true shape. A study published in 2011 by Joanne Edgar and her colleagues at the University of Bristol. England, have demonstrated that, in addition to their downright Machiavellian cunning, chickens display the ability to sincerely empathize with others.

This experiment involved brooding hens who were forced to watch their chicks receive safe and painless blows from a jet of air that only ruffled their fluffy plumage. However, the chickens themselves perceived the tremors as a real threat and showed classic signs of stress such as increased heart rate and cold temperatures. Amazingly, their mothers also began to worry and cluck more animatedly when they saw the reactions of their chicks. They showed the same signs of stress as their chicks, although they themselves did not feel the air jolts and clearly saw that there was no immediate threat to the chicks. All of these results demonstrate the ability of common chickens to put themselves in the shoes of their fellow chickens, which is a very specific behavioral trait that has previously been attributed to only a limited number of species, such as crows, squirrels and, of course, humans. The fact that a simple domestic chicken, not closely related to those groups of birds that are generally known to have high intelligence, has an equally outstanding intelligence, makes us ponder the riddle of the origin of intelligence in general. Perhaps "rationality" is inherent in the animal world to a much greater extent than previously assumed, and appears wherever a social way of life favors it, and does not at all constitute an exception that is difficult for biological evolution. In all likelihood, chickens inherited a powerful cognitive gift from their wild ancestor, the bank chicken, which lives in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. In those places, the ancestors of chickens formed long-term, relatively stable groups of four to 13 individuals of different ages. The dominant male and female, leading each group, like most animals, received all the best, be it food, space for life or sexual partners, at the expense of more or less suppression of the rest of the pack. Males spent most of their time attracting females and supplying them with food; females, on the other hand, closely watched the males, evaluating their actions and remembering their actions in order to avoid in the future those who acted meanly or unkindly. The “reputation” of each particular rooster was of great importance for his successful and long-term communication with females, since the competition for them was fierce.

However, competition within the flock is not the only factor pushing the avian mind to develop. The presence of threats from outside (including ground and flying predators such as foxes and hawks) led to the emergence of a variety of rescue strategies, which changed depending on the behavior of the predator. This forced the birds to develop more highly intelligent ways of interacting with each other and reacting to external threats, as well as looking for ways to “discuss-emerging situations. All of the above traits are still present in domesticated chickens.

It's not easy to come to terms with that right away. that this entire long list of intellectual abilities refers to birds, which humanity has used as a reliable source of food for millions of years. Involuntarily, the question arises about the conditions of their keeping and growing. Birds that live in small groups in the wild can be kept on farms with an incredible density of 50,000 birds per house. The lifespan of ten years in chickens in nature has been reduced here to six weeks if raised for meat. They are killed young because of the threat of heart disease, osteoporosis and bone fractures, which are the inevitable consequences of ultra-fast growth in breeds specially selected for poultry meat farming. The laying hens were "lucky" a little more - after all, they will have a life of one and a half years, albeit in a cage with an area of ​​A4 sheet.

Chicken brains. Almost every person who at least once heard this statement, willingly or unwillingly asked the question: does a chicken have brains?

Having "rummaged" properly in this matter, scientists have found out quite interesting facts that can change a person's attitude towards such a seemingly stupid creature.

The role of the chicken brain

The chicken's brain, together with the spinal cord, nerve processes and fibers, represents the nervous system of the winged individual. Consists of the cerebellum, forebrain, midbrain and diencephalon. The hemispheres are responsible for the orientation of the bird in space and the realization of its instincts. The cerebellum controls the coordination of movements.

Brains in the small hemispheres of the brain are absent, which is a reason to think that brains in chickens are something insignificant and insignificant. It took more than a century for scientists to figure out what is going on in the head of chickens, in order to come to staggering conclusions.

Chicken brain: signaling system

The chicken repertoire contains about 24 complex signals, each of which is used according to the situation. In support of their guesses, in the 1990s, scientists conducted the following experiment: they installed audio recording devices around the cages with domestic birds, and high-resolution television screens in order to reveal the meaning of the sounds of chicken speech. Thus, a virtual reality was created for birds, in which the latter had to contact with various individuals: a running fox, a flying hawk, a relative-rooster.

During the experiment, it was found that the chicken does not have to show the predator to get a certain reaction. It is enough for her to hear a warning signal from another bird so that the chicken's brain draws an image of the corresponding object, prompting it to perform a certain action (for example, to run to the feeder or to escape from a predator).

Electoral tactics

In an effort to find an answer to the question "do chickens have brains," the researchers found that domestic birds send signals based on who is around them. For example, a rooster will raise the alarm in case of a threat if females are nearby, while with a competing relative, he will remain silent. Female chickens also behave selectively: they will raise the alarm if a brood of young animals is found nearby.

Therefore, in the sounds emitted by chickens there is not a primitive "want to eat" or "I'm scared"; the bird delves into the meaning of current events, responds to them not reflexively, but with the help of well-thought-out actions. The presence of a system of conscious signals in chicken communication indicates the complexity and development of their thought process.

Hence, one interesting question can be asked: if the chicken's brain is able to share information about the events taking place, can the bird use such information in a distorted form, with its own benefit?

Pecking order

Chickens have a certain hierarchical system called the "pecking order". The bird defends the dominant position in its community, rewarding lower-ranking relatives with beak blows, who decide on actions that do not correspond to their status.

In each group of chickens there is an alpha male, constantly confirming his superiority in all sorts of ways. It is he who arranges the main dance, if he finds a tidbit, and warns the others when danger approaches. And what about the rest of the males? After all, they cannot assume the same functions, so as not to incur the wrath of the rooster-leader. But chicken brains were given to domestic birds for a reason!

The trick among the chickens

A series of sophisticated experiments have revealed that in the chicken environment there is such a quality as cunning. For example: to attract a lady, an alpha male performs a show dance with complex elements and makes certain inviting sounds. Roosters occupying a lower hierarchical position use hidden tactics: in the dance they perform only the motor part, and, moreover, completely silently, which does not give rise to aggressive attacks from the alpha male.

It is known that chickens are very fond of hiding among thickets and tall grass, which is especially important in case of an approaching threat. It was noticed that males trumpet about danger, being in the bushes, while their rival calmly walks around the open area in full view of the approaching predator. Thus, the cunning rooster achieves two goals at once: it protects its female and gets rid of the rival. This type of behavior in science is called "risk compensation" and is also characteristic of a person who assumes more responsibility in the presence of "mitigating" circumstances. For example, a driver wearing a seat belt presses the gas pedal harder.

Empathy

Chickens know how to empathize. This fact was proved by one experiment in which hens and their brood took part. Young animals received safe and painless blows with a stream of air, which only ruffled the plumage, and perceived this action as a threat. There were all the signs of stress: a drop in temperature, a rapid heart rate.

Mothers, observing the reaction of the chicks, began to experience the same stress, expressing it with anxiety and clucking, although they themselves did not feel the jolts of air and saw that the chicks were not in danger. Consequently, it can be assumed that chickens are able to put themselves in the place of congeners. This specific behavioral trait, empathy, was previously attributed to a certain number of species, which include crows and squirrels (and, naturally, humans).

Chickens are able to think

Probably, intelligence is inherent in the animal world to a somewhat greater extent than previously assumed. Chickens could have inherited their cognitive gift from a wild relative - the banking jungle chicken, an inhabitant of the South Asian forests. In conditions of high competition within the flock and many external threats, the bird's mind was forced to develop in coming up with various rescue strategies and instant response to the situation. All these traits are inherited by domesticated chickens.

Scientists are only at the beginning of the path of comprehending the true essence of the type of mind peculiar to chickens. But one fact is already beyond any doubt: common sayings like "chicken brains", "stupid as a chicken" are no longer meaningful.