Parrots pack twice as many neurons as primate brains of the same mass
by DiffTheEnder on 3/30/2026, 1:14:27 PM
https://www.dhanishsemar.com/writing/bird-brains
Comments
by: awsanswers
If you're in tune with animals and spend time around a parrot, it's obvious there is a lot going on in their minds. They have incredible memories and their own understanding of their world. It looks simple to us but they are not simple creatures. That being said, I don't know how a bird lover can keep a bird in a cage.
3/30/2026, 3:46:43 PM
by: junon
Parrot owner here. This doesn't surprise me at all. I'm actually a bit surprised they cared about the gyms!<p>This fits right into the ABC model of parrot psychology:<p><a href="https://www.parrots.org/pdfs/all_about_parrots/reference_library/behaviour_and_environmental_enrichment/The%20ABCs%20of%20Behaviour.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.parrots.org/pdfs/all_about_parrots/reference_lib...</a>
3/30/2026, 3:13:46 PM
by: Bender
Adding to this a chart of neuron count [1]<p>[1] - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_by_number_of_neurons#Forebrain_(cerebrum_or_pallium)_only" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_by_number_of_n...</a>
3/30/2026, 1:48:00 PM
by: Sharlin
Makes sense, given that to birds, optimizing for weight is everything. But seeing that the ridiculously smart border collies have a comparatively low density of neurons, clearly there’s more to intelligence than that.
3/30/2026, 3:33:44 PM
by: lucasay
“More neurons = intelligence” always felt like an oversimplification. If that were true, we wouldn’t be surprised by birds or octopuses anymore.
3/30/2026, 2:44:28 PM
by: amelius
Reminds me of:<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/news070716-15.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/news070716-15.h...</a><p>> Scans reveal a fluid-filled cavity in the brain of a normal man.
3/30/2026, 3:22:22 PM
by: nivertech
Flying and taxi-driving primates pack twice as many neurons as parrot brains of the same mass.
3/30/2026, 3:45:05 PM
by: small_model
Given parrots can talk, there must be a neuron count that activates language (assuming anatomy allows it), similar to LLM parameter count.
3/30/2026, 2:19:00 PM
by: awinter-py
is this a straight-up advantage, or is the trade-off lower connectivity?
3/30/2026, 3:31:46 PM
by: gjsman-1000
> Dr. Irene Pepperberg studied an African grey parrot named Alex for 30 years. Alex could identify objects, colours, shapes, and numbers. He understood abstract concepts like "same" and "different." His vocabulary exceeded 100 words. When he died in 2007, his last words to Pepperberg were reportedly "You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow." I don't care how you define intelligence -- that one's hard to brush off.<p>The author takes forgranted the claim of intelligence; and does not assess at all whether the researcher simply said those words to the parrot every night. (Why not? It sounds exactly like what a researcher would tell a parrot before turning off the lights.) A quick search on Wikipedia says the parrot was also found dead in the morning, not in the implied "parrot has last words" scenario.
3/30/2026, 2:40:20 PM
by: djmips
bird brains are a die shrink of mammalian brains.
3/30/2026, 2:48:54 PM
by: SoftTalker
> Calling someone a "bird brain" is honestly more of a compliment.<p>Well no. Some birds are flat-out dumb. Chickens for example.
3/30/2026, 2:59:20 PM
by: tos1
This gives a whole new meaning to the term “stochastic parrots” for LLMs :)
3/30/2026, 2:50:42 PM
by: builderhq_io
[dead]
3/30/2026, 3:01:04 PM
by: riverforest
[flagged]
3/30/2026, 2:42:02 PM
by: ge96
If you haven't seen Apollo on YT, crazy<p>What is it made out of? meTUL<p>Want a pistach
3/30/2026, 2:21:52 PM
by: cyjackx
I have to imagine that given birds are descendants of dinosaurs, which evolved quite a long time ago, they've had a lot more time to optimize certain things.
3/30/2026, 2:04:50 PM