SSS 2011-04-28

（单词翻译）

Cities have a lot to offer, theater, music, restaurants, birds...Yes, birds.
But city birds are not other birds, because big cities inhabited by birds with big brains, that's according to a study in the Journal Biology Letters.

It can take smarts to to survive in the big city, especially for birds, the open environment is very different the one which their ancestors were born and fledged, but the city birds really need more gray matter to make it.
Scientist surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows, pigeons any thing that perches¹ in and around 12 cities in central Europe, they classify the birds those that bred in the Heart of the city, or those that avoid the hustle² and bustle³.
And then they compare the bird brains,the results,  birds that prosper⁴ around the city street, have larger brains than their pastoral relations.
So they it seems novel environments including open landscapes may select for street smarts, at least for birds that flown toward the city lights, urban area that continues to spread, so to survive, our feathered friends may need to spend their mind as they spread their wings.