Research and discussion topics
Introduction
The news story suggests lots of interesting topics for discussion and research.
Take a look at those we've picked out from the text. Compare ours with those you found using the methods in Getting the topics.
In groups discuss the differences. This isn't about right or wrong. Your choice is as good as ours as long as you can explain and defend it.
Now have a go at some of the topics - ours or yours.
Selected topics
These intelligent birds are closely related to crows and ravens.
They have eyes similar to human eyes.
Jackdaws are sensitive to human eyes because, just like humans, they use their eyes for communication.
Chimps and dogs don't seem to realise that the eyes are the visual organs.
The results suggest that birds in general and the crow family in particular deserve more respect for their mental abilities.
Jackdaws, amongst many other birds, form pair bonds for life and need to closelycollaborate with their partner. This needs good ways of communicating and sensitivity to their partner's perspective.
Want more?
These intelligent birds are closely related to crows and ravens.
What's the difference between crows and ravens?
If you click on the picture to the left you'll get an answer from an American website. See if you can answer the question for Britain.
How many different types of bird belonging to the crow family live in Britain? Where are they found and how do they behave? What's different, for example, about the way that rooks live compared to other types of crow?
Put together a presentation which includes not just images and video from the web, but some you have made yourself. Members of the crow family are easy to find around a school, so ask your teacher if she can let you borrow a digital camera and/or a video camera and get to work.
Where is the most likely place to find members of the crow family around a school? Why is that?
Explain what species, genus and family mean, and give examples from the crows.
They have eyes similar to human eyes.
Investigate the different kinds of eyes that are found in animals and birds.
The eye is very interesting, because some people who don't believe in evolution use the eye as an example of an organ that could not possibly have evolved.
"How could evolution, acting on one gene at a time, start with a sightless organism and produce an eye with so many independent parts?" they ask.
See if you can find the answer. Take a look here and here.
Put together a presentation, using images of animals and the organs they use to detect light, starting with simple ones right up to the human eye.
End with an image of the human eye, with different parts labelled, and a brief explanation of what each part does.
Jackdaws are sensitive to human eyes because, just like humans, they use their eyes for communication.
Look into the different ways that animals communicate with each other.
Investigate examples of communication between members of the same species.
Find out as many different methods of communication as you can. What are the main messages all about?
Choose one form of communication that particularly appeals to you and tell the story in whatever form you fancy - text, graphic novel, video, presentation, podcast.
Cephalopods - squid, octopuses, etc - are particularly interesting because their methods are totally different from ours but they're capable of sending complex messages to each other.
Only a few species of birds have no voice storks, pelicans, some vultures. Most birds produce some sort of vocal sound. The Passeriformes (perching birds,songbirds) are noted for their singing ability.
Dolphin and whale communication and the amazing sounds they make are popular areas of research.
You choose - one of these or something else that appeals to you.
Chimps and dogs don't seem to realise that the eyes are the visual organs.
Communication between different species is less common than between members of one species.
But that doesn't mean it is uncommon.
Flowers communicate with bees, for instance. How do they do that?
Take a look at Interspecies which "empowers artists to re-invent the human relationship with animals, with the goal of healing our own species' emotional, spiritual, and cultural ties with nature."
Have a look at an earlier story about human communication with orang-utans.
Try one or two of the discussion and research topics there.
Visit the Glasgow Science Centre and take a look at their exhibit on humans and apes talking to each other.
The results suggest that birds in general and the crow family in particular deserve more respect for their mental abilities.
"The next time you are accused of 'chattering like a magpie' you can take it as a compliment. You have been compared to one of nature's most intelligent birds."
The link from the image to the left takes you to the Birdminds website, whose headline is "Can birds think?"
It's a fascinating question.
"Bird-brain" used to be quite a common insult because birds were thought to have almost no intelligence at all.
Then a few researchers, such as Irene Pepperberg, began to look at bird brains and what they could do. The results were astonishing. Birds seem to have much more intelligence than we gave them credit for.
Jackdaws form pair bonds for life and need to closely collaborate with their partner. This needs good ways of communicating and sensitivity to their partner's perspective.
Look into pair bonds in birds. Which ones mate for life?
How do they communicate? What advantage do they get from bonding for life? What are the disadvantages?
What advantage do other birds get from mating with different individuals each season? What are the disadvantages of this as a mating strategy?
If you had the chance, would you choose to be a type of bird that mates for life or not? Why?
Find some stories of pair bonding in birds and tell them to your colleagues.
Want more?
1. Bird minds.
2. Smart crows use cars to open food. But don't try this yourself.
3. Crows use zebra-crossing.
4. Tool making crows.
5. Intelligent birds article.
6. Real science smart crows.
7. 12-minute video of bird brain researcher Erich Jarvis.