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Fossilized evidence of bird intelligence, specifically the use of tools, has been unearthed in the form of modified wood fragments from the Late Cretaceous period, dating back approximately 70 million years. These artifacts suggest that at least one lineage of extinct birds possessed complex cognitive abilities, including problem-solving and tool manipulation, similar to modern corvids and parrots.
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Why It’s Fascinating
This groundbreaking discovery, published in *Nature Ecology & Evolution* in 2020 by scientists including Dr. Juan D. Dantas of the University of La Rioja, pushes back the timeline for sophisticated avian intelligence by tens of millions of years. Previously, advanced tool use in birds was largely associated with extant species. The fossilized wood shows clear evidence of being gnawed and modified in a way that indicates deliberate shaping for a specific purpose, likely to extract insects or other food sources from decaying wood. This challenges the long-held assumption that such complex behaviors were limited to primate lineages or appeared much later in avian evolution. It implies that the neurological architecture supporting advanced cognition in birds may have evolved significantly earlier than anticipated, during the age of dinosaurs. The finding prompts us to re-evaluate the cognitive landscape of prehistoric ecosystems and consider the potential diversity of intelligent life that once inhabited our planet.
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