Some time back in college, I got interested in Bonobo chimps. Bonobos are our closest genetic animal relative, and are a fascinating species for a number of reasons, one of which is their unparalleled intelligence. One interesting thing I noted was that for many years the capacity for A chimps vocabulary was thought to be about 150 signs (they learned in sign language). Then researchers came up with the idea of using lexigram boards; a sort of pushbutton board with symbols on it. The chimps learned to use the boards, and suddenly.. 400 symbol vocabulary! Boy those chimps sure got smart fast!
We seem to make these sorts of assumptions; TV shows on archeology are always acting “surprised” when we discover that people were crossing continents, or building houses, or practicing agriculture thousands of years prior to what was previously believed. Headlines frequent the phrase “Than previously believed!” as though we should be surprised that things in fact go beyond our perception of them. We assume that limitations in our measurement are the limits of the environment.
This is especially the case in the study of animal intelligence. Not only do we have a seemingly natural tendency to see the limitations of our measurement as the limits of the environment, but when it comes to animal intelligence, we have certain cultural barriers that discourage seeing the intelligence of the animal for what it is.
Some of this is our fault, and some of it can’t be helped. Even if you see humanity as nothing more than a very specialized animal, you are constantly being fed little messages and cues that because you are human, you are something Special. We like to think that we have certain faculties that animals just don’t have. This ranges from active refusal to see things like intelligence in chickens (oh, she doesn’t recognize you, she just wants food, animals don’t have feelings) to a sort of passive bias (well, if it doesn’t understand language as I prefer to use it, it can’t understand language).
We Want (at least as a society) to believe things like “Chickens don’t have memory”, “Their brains are too small to think…”, “Oh in 5 minutes she won’t remember..” It just makes our relationship with them easier… Sure.. Chop off one chickens head in front of another… they don’t care. Feed them the same bland diet, they don’t care.. They’re not smart enough to get personal with.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that its only in the last 15 years or so that people have begun to really study the intelligence of the chicken, and it equally probably won’t be surprising to most readers that….. Of course they’re way more intelligent than was previously believed possible.
And its creating a bit of a conundrum. The truth is that we have wanted to see these birds as brainless chunks of meat because… thats how we wanted to treat them. But… how do we justify grinding alive millions of baby birds when studies show that they have greater cognitive and memory development than human four year olds in many regards? How do we justify concentrated feed operations with animals that demonstrate empathy? Animal behaviorists are raising the question “These animals are at least as intelligent as our pets, how can we justify treating them so deplorably?” And there is no good answer.
One thing it does suggest however; the backyard chicken, raised and cared for, somewhere between house pet and livestock is not a fad; its here to stay, or even rather, is the wave of the future. Certainly as more is learned about how sentient, how intelligent these birds actually are, the more pressure will come to bear on industry. Either industry will change, or people will turn away. More of us will either turn away from eating chicken, or at least commit ourselves to making sure our chickens have a real quality of life. The “Chicken-As-Pet” phenomenon is here to stay. Expect chicken swings, diapers and the like to continue to gain in popularity. Perhaps to the chagrin of a few “experts” in the backyard chicken world that would rather keep them in the “adorable backyard moron” status of old.
Chickens display remarkable memory, the ability to count, can recognize and remember over 100 faces, demonstrate delayed gratification, demonstrate empathy, have rigid, complex social orders, and ongoing, evolving relationships. To quote researcher Christine Nicol of Bristol University, their intelligence has “many hidden depths”- The limit is our ability and interest in studying. Who knows what else we might discover? We just have to be willing to look.
Or you could just ask any one of us chicken nuts! We’ve known for years; they remember us, know their own names, can practice patience, and really aren’t much that different from having a dog. That’s why we buy them the toys, take them on walks, teach them tricks, and teach them obstacle courses! We’ve known for a long time that chickens are quite sentient, intelligent birds that actually crave attention and interaction. And I for one am looking forward to continued discoveries of what a high compliment “Bird Brained” really is.