They decipher the reason for the particular intelligence of parrots

Ottawa, July 9 (Prensa Latina) Canadian scientists have discovered that parrots have a unique brain circuit similar to that of primates, allowing them to perform complex tasks, in which lies the secret of their intelligence.

The ability of these animals to use tools, solve problems, understand mathematical concepts and even talk about it, motivated researchers to study 98 bird brain specimens, including parrots, owls, oysters, chickens and hummingbirds. Specialists from the Universities of Alberta and Lethbridge sought to determine whether parrots had more developed pontine nuclei, nerve cells located in the basilar part of the protuberance or brainstem.

In humans and other primates, these nuclei form a neural circuit that transfers information between two areas of the brain: the cortex, which governs sensory information and other higher functions, and the cerebellum, responsible for the motor functions.

However, comparative badysis of parrot brain compared to one of the other birds has established that they do not have large pontine nuclei, but that they emphasize by the big t This circuit communicates the cerebral cortex with the cerebellum and is two to five times larger in parrots than in other birds such as chickens, explained Cristian Gutiérrez, one authors of the book.

According to the expert, the correspondence of neuronal connections between the brains of parrots and primates could explain why the former are able to perform complex tasks similar to those of the latter.

In both cases motricity and intelligence are deployed by similar brain connections, even when they occur at different places in the brain of each species.

According to Gutiérrez, the recent discovery raises the need to know in depth how this process occurs in the Pontic nuclei of human beings to better understand the functioning of our brains.

ocs / lrc