“Experiments Suggest Birds May Be Capable Of Planning Ahead” was a recent headline in “The Wall Street Journal” which I found quite intriguing. I am all for planning ahead – when I go out of town for several days, I begin packing at least a week ahead. I pack clothes that I especially like but can’t wear until I’m at my destination which means I go around looking like crap for about a week before I leave. But the experiments were done on scrub jays and I doubt that they ever packed anything for a vacation. They probably don’t even take vacations. I’m not even sure what a scrub jay is, but in one experiment they seemed to be able to plan ahead in ways indicating forethought.

Some scientists think the experiments show that some animals may have higher mental abilities like logic and the ability to plan ahead for the future. Also they believe that birds make tools better than primates do. In one study, a crow formed a wire into a hook which let him grab his food. To quote Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus, University of Colorado, this is “the first time any animal has been found to make a new tool for a specific task.” There are a lot of crows where I live, and sometimes they make screeching noises when something is going on . . . I don’t know exactly what, but something. Maybe they don’t like my walking by, or maybe they’re busy making implements with which they can get their food more easily. If crows are so smart, why are they always in the street, picking at nasty old things to eat? And I’ve never seen one with a tool.

Scrub jays are into storing food – as do Mormons. Do the birds have enough for several years stored someplace? I think the Mormons store quite a bit – jays probably couldn’t find a place to store very much. And what do they eat anyway . . . the birds, I mean. This shows that jays are able to plan for the future which is something that has never before been seen in nonhuman behavior. I find all this fascinating, and I’m sure there are many more examples of birds outdoing us in many respects. But have they learned how to operate a TV remote control and program a cell phone? I think not!