Chicken brains. Chicken Brain: Interesting Facts Chicken Brains Meaning

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

"Digging" as follows in this matter, scientists have found out enough Interesting Facts, capable of changing 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 TV 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 various individuals: a running fox, a flying hawk, a relative rooster.

In the course of 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 the warning signal of another bird, so that the chicken's brain draws an image of the corresponding object, prompting certain action(for example, run to the feeding trough or flee from a predator).

Electoral tactics

While trying to find an answer to the question "does 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: the alarm will be raised if a young brood 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 that are 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 its lower-ranking relatives with beak strikes, which decide on actions that do not correspond to their status.

In each group of chickens there is an alpha male, constantly confirming his supremacy 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 a hidden tactic: 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 the 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 jet 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 heartbeat.

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. Such a specific behavior 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 thought. 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 the multitude 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.

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 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, which has 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 in birds cognitive thinking 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 not stupid creatures. 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 can learn skills and develop abilities much faster than a human child, which can take months and years to do this,” summed up Nichol.
However, on this mathematical ability these birds don't 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 brain of more than two dozen bird species (from tiny zebra finch up to almost two meters high) and found that their brains contain more neurons than the brain of the same mass of 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. 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 - an egg (Latin)> oval - an oval (Slav.), otherwise, a distorted shape of a circle> brain - a 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“ wait - we'll see "(how it will end), and 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, obsessed with English, does not understand that
hatched - shaded, hatched (English), otherwise, "pestle" - motley chicken

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

Perhaps hatched> kochet - kochet (slav.) (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 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, 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. They all 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 (not Coptic) interpretation of the Egyptian graphemes means: 1. chicken 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 "Etymology of the phrase" In the beginning was the Word "in the section" Alternative Egyptology ".

Abbreviations

SPI - 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 vocabulary 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

No one is surprised that some animals are smarter than others. In particular, among birds there are very clever creatures that show intellectual abilities that, as was previously believed, only 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 found 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 to convey their intentions complex system signals. 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 that chicken has highly developed cognitive skills makes you wonder how morally justified is keeping them 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 chickens' brains. The first shifts were outlined in the 1920s. last century, when the Norwegian biologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe (Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe) revealed that these birds have a hierarchical social system, 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 things (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 publish 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 enabled 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 certain 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 make the chicken "contact" with a variety of creatures - companion, competitor, predator - and record the response of the experimental bird in a given situation. The tested chickens were shown either a hawk flying over them, or a fox running towards them, and another time - a relative rooster, issuing its "dock-dock".

Experiments in virtual reality have 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 is not at all necessary for it to show a real predator - it is enough to give it 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 escape 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 prefers 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 the 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? Answer to this question scientists obtained by examining 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 territory of Macquarie University, Smith and her colleagues equipped open enclosures - vast natural areas, bounded on all sides by nets, with a lot of vegetation, many microphones and tracking cameras high resolution to observe literally every movement and sound made 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 territory he occupied. 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 an 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.

Researchers were simply shocked by such a stunning plasticity of 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 ... 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 have shown that the male, when attacked by an aerial predator, such as a hawk, often "caused fire on himself", loudly shrieking about danger and thereby exposing himself to 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.

Studies have shown that there are such factors. With the help of his invention, which allows you 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 his 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. As a person presses on the gas harder if they are wearing a seat belt or the car is equipped with an anti-lock braking system, so the cock 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 the 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 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 these results demonstrate the ability of common chickens to put themselves in the place of their relatives, which is a very specific behavior trait that was previously attributed only to limited number 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 thought, and appears wherever it favors social image life, and is not at all an exception, difficult to access for biological evolution. In all likelihood, chickens inherited a powerful cognitive gift from their wild ancestor, the bank hen, 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, whether it be 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, carefully observed 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 the outside (including ground and flying predators such as foxes and hawks) led to the emergence of a variety of rescue strategies that 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 whole long list of intellectual abilities belongs to birds, which humanity has been using as a reliable source of food for millions of years. Involuntarily the question arises about the conditions of their keeping and growing. Birds that are in wildlife live in small groups, can be kept on farms with an incredible density of 50 thousand heads per room. The lifespan of ten years in chickens in nature is reduced here to six weeks if they are 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 specially selected breeds for poultry meat farming. Laying hens are "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.

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