this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 90s are nothing. I remember a flock of seagulls from the 80s that are still flying around.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They just flew (so far away).

[–] somethingsnappy 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hello, fellow old people. My 10 year old is sporting that cut, unironicaly.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Any bird who lives primarily in the water is dumb as shit. They have unlimited protection above and around them, so they have zero adaptive pressure to put anything into their intelligence. Land birds have a lot to worry about so their brains are approaching human levels of intellect.

[–] PrincessZelda 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If the land birds get any smarter they're going to have to start worrying about a whole lot more. Like taxes, or rent.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I mean some birds have been shown exchanging money for goods and services, so it's not that far off.

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[–] JJROKCZ 7 points 1 year ago (10 children)

A land bird flew into my window so hard I was worried it died this morning. This happens once a month to my knowledge and I don’t spend long in my bedroom outside sleeping. Land birds aren’t smart outside of a few select species lol

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In all seriousness that's more of a sensory limitation than an intelligence limitation. IIRC birds' eyes work differently from mammals and they can't see glass pretty much at all.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Put some stickers on your window

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Wtf. Would you please do something about that?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you want him to do, start a bird college?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are you implying that helping birds avoid windows is an unsolved problem?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not true at all. There's tons of adaptive pressure. If there weren't, we wouldn't see the thousands of pelagic and shorebird species that we do. But even if what you say about the threat from predation were true --its not-- there would still be adaptive pressure from differential reproduction rates and access to nutrients.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I’m sure there’s some seagull out there with a 1000-yard stare who went through the most fucked up shit of his life in the 90’s and still remembers it like it was yesterday. He hangs out down by the bars and drinks discarded alcohol out of the trash, trying to forget, and then flies around drunk bumping into things.

The other seagulls look at him and shake their heads with pity “he used to be such a good gull.. so full of promise.”

[–] Ensign_Crab 5 points 1 year ago

Too soon, too soon, too soon.

He stole food from Madonna too soon.

Too young, too young, too soon too soon.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This reminds me of a talk I had with my dad, an equine veterinarian for 40 years. I'd seen that video of a horse eating a chick online and someone in the comments explained that horses are naturally opportunistic eaters and that's why it took the chance to munch it down. I confidently told him this later on and he said, 'nah, they're just stupid'.

[–] PP_BOY_ 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Omgarm 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are they stupid or do they know that death is just a dark void?

[–] 3ntranced 14 points 1 year ago

Got me wondering weather or not horses actually know something we don't. They always had shifty eyes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Someone on youtube said it therefore it must be true. I believe it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

throw a blanket over a horses head, it will think it's dead

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] Donjuanme 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't know that I'd trust an ornathologist to know how the brain chemistry works. But I do trust that they're dumb. Lacking memory isn't predictive of being dumb, but there's probably some correlation. Maybe seagulls have perfect memory but just want to flip human observers the bird.

[–] IMongoose 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ornithologists do actual science, they aren't just bird watchers. An ornithologist is pretty much the only one I would trust about this because they are the ones studying the birds.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That and the bird lawyers.

[–] captainlezbian 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk bird lawyers probably don’t deal with birds at their smartest. Human lawyers likely don’t think we’re intelligent life either

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Idk man, I wouldn't trust those guys. I think some of them are being paid off by the government to defend the position that birds are real. Crazy stuff, I know.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Maybe seagulls have perfect memory but just want to flip human observers the bird.

My spirit animal

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wait till this person hears about parrots

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

For real, there are at least some parrots that are likely to outlive their owners. Like if you get a pet parrot you do it considering you will likely pass it on to someone else in your fucking will.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

The sadder part of this is that many "pet" parrots live much shorter than their natural life in the wild because their owners don't know how to care for them. They're also extremely intelligent, some researchers argue that macaws can be considered sapient for example.

Even more widespread problem with koi and goldfish. They can live well into their 80s and can grow up to many pounds over that time, yet most people have their goldfish die after two weeks and just assume that's their natural lifespan because they're irresponsible owners. Hint: that glass bowl is not cutting it, there isn't a single species of fish that can be healthy in a tank without an active circulation pump and filter. Also fun fact: the Western misconception that goldfish can be kept in bowls comes from the fact that in China and Japan where they originate, owners would sometimes put them in clay bowls to show them off (which were about a meter in diameter BTW, not the soccer ball sized bowls you see nowadays), they were kept in those bowls very rarely, they were traditionally raised in large ponds.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They wait for cruise ships to leave to grab fish trying to swim away. They're probably smarter than most people.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Based on the 2020 US election, we know at least 74,222,958 people that fall under the seagull intelligence standard.

[–] Agent641 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not a single seagull voted for Trump. Not one. How do libs explain this, other than by voter suppression?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Not a especially high bar!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (5 children)

They have enough thought process to play. Watch them fly. They play in the thermals. Do all manner of aerobatics. They know how to steal from humans. That's not "dumb".

[–] CADmonkey 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think a lot of birds have more complex internal lives than people realize. I have chickens, amd all four of them have a distinct personality and feelings.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"The greatest trick the devil ever played was making man believe he doesn't exist"

Those seagulls remember... and they'll have their revenge for that hot dog bun you scared them off in 04'. tick tok

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Since there is videos of seagulls hunting pigeons i'd say they are pretty smart birds. They just dont give a fuck to pretend around people.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just because an animal is territorial and good at killing does not mean it's smart.

[–] TheBat 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes but we already know about cops.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The approach is pretty smart though and it isnt standard seagull behaviour, so they are inventive. Also they are about the same size as pigeons.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPTBhmcyXY

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don’t remember the 90s either.

[–] EmpathicVagrant 9 points 1 year ago

“You’re dumb”

-He

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot 4 points 1 year ago

Back then, the Internet was cool.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Then wanted your French fries in the 90’s and they still want them today

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