"The genius of birds" (J. Ackerman, 2017), hegaztiak uste genuena baino askoz azkarragoak direlako

The genius of birds
Jennifer Ackerman
Penguin Press 2016 (US), Corsair 2016 (UK)

Hegaztien gaitasun eta trebetasunen inguruan azken 30 urteotan egin diren aurkikuntzen errepaso bikaina. Horixe da, laburbilduz, The genius of birds azpimarragarri honen funtsa. Txoriak animalia xinple samartzat jo izan ditugu historikoki, ugaztunak baino "atzeratuagoak" hainbat esparrutan; aurreiritzi hori iraultzen digu modu trebean Jennifer Ackermanek, liburu sakon, erreferentziaz bete, gustagarri eta erritmo oneko honekin. Ez ditu alperrik jaso hainbat sari eta aipamen: New York Times bestseller, TopTen books Wall Street Journal zerrendan, best book of the year (The Spectator), nature book of the year (London Sunday Times) eta best science book of 2016 (Science Friday), eta abar.

Erresuma Batuko edizioa irakurri dut nik (Corsair, 2016); gaztelaniaz ere badago, baina oso itzulpen kaskarrarekin, antza.

“Intelligence is a slippery concept, even in our own species, tricky to define and tricky to measure” esaldiarekin abiatzen du liburua idazleak. Azken batean, zer da "argia" eta "inteligentea" izatea? Nola neurtzen da? Eta nola konparatu daitezke ebolutiboki hain urrun dauden hegaztien eta ugaztunen burmuinak? Inteligentziaren ordez genius hitza aukeratzen du izenbururako egileak, "nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly".

Izan ere, oso azkarrak baitira hegaztiak. Eta azken urteotako ikerketek diote, gainera, uste genuena baino askoz azkarragoak direla. Beste modu batean dira buru-argiak, beharbada, eta horregatik ez gara orain arte konturatu, baina itzelak dira hegaztiek dituzten gaitasunak, kantutik hasi eta migrazioetara, harreman sozialetatik hasi eta ikasteko gaitasunera.

Hegaztien inguruko hainbat ezaugarri aztertzen dira liburuan, 8 kapitulutan banatuta. Hegaztiek ikasteko daukaten gaitasunarekin hasten da eta burmuinaren tamainak ezaugarri horretan daukan garrantziaz luze jarduten du. Kantatzeko gaitasunak ere leku zabala dauka, jakina, naturan aurkitu dezakegun fenomenorik harrigarriena delako, konplexutasun handiko eta ejekuzio zehatzeko tresna izugarria. Horrekin batera, habiagintza, txorien arteko harremanak, erremintak erabiltzeko gaitasuna eta beste makina bat kontu ere aipatuko ditu, lekurik handiena migrazioari eskainiz, ugaztun batek nekez egingo duena egiten baitute miloika hegaztik urtero-urtero, oraindik erabat ulertzen ez ditugun mekanismoak erabilita orientatzeko (ikusmena, usaimena, nabigazio-mapak, lurraren magnetismoa...).

Eta gai bakoitzaren inguruan dozenaka adibide eta datu zehatz irakurri ahalko ditugu, modu landu eta interesgarrian azalduta, idazkera biziarekin, batez ere ezaugarrion jaiotza eta eboluzioa aipatuz eta hautespen naturalak eta sexualak eboluzio horretan izandako eragin posibleak aipatuz.

Esan bezala, azken 30 urteotan hegaztien gaitasunen inguruan egindako ikerketen laburpen moduko bat da The genius of birds. Beharbada horregatik, irakurketa amaitzean itomen moduko bat sentitzen duzu, konturatzen zarelako ezinezko egingo zaizula jasotako informazio guztia barneratzea; hala ere, ez da liburu astuna eta erritmo, enfoke zein hizkera egokiak ditu.

Azken batean, liburuan jasotzen direnak erabat ez ulertzearen gakoa gugan baitago, inteligentzia eta azkartasuna ulertzeko eta azaltzeko daukagun ikuspegi antropozentrikoan. Hain zilborrari begira bizi gara eze, kosta egiten zaigula erabat ulertzea hegaztien azkartasun horren oinarriak eta ezaugarri kognitiboak.

Perhaps, it's because they're so unlike people that it's difficult for us to fully appreciate their mental capabilities. Birds are dinosaurs, descended from the lucky, flexible few that survived whatever cataclysm did in their cousins. We are mammals, related to the timid, diminutive shrewlike creatures that emerged from the dinosaurs' shadows only after most of those beasts died off. While our mammal relatives were busy growing, birds, by the same process of natural selection, were busy shrinking. While we were learning to stand up and walk on two feet, they were perfecting lightness and flight.

Liburuaren azken esaldiak ematen dio, beharbada, erantzun zuzena ikuspegi oker horri: "One has only to consider the extraordinary genius packed tightly into that tiny puff of feathers to lay the mind wide open to the mysteries of a bird's knowing - the what and the way. These are wonderful puzzles to keep around on our intellectual bookshelf, to remind us how little we still know".

............

The genius of birds, (Jennifer Ackerman, 2016)

In judging the overall intelligence of animals, scientist may look at how successful are at surviving and repoducing in many different environments. By this mean, birds trump nearly all vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. They are the one form of wildlife visible nearly everywhere. (...) As a class, birds have been around for more than 100 million years. They are one of nature's great success stories, inventing new strategies for survival, their own distinctive brands of ingenuity that, in some respects at least, seem to far oustspace our own. (...) Now there are some 10.400 different bird species - more than double the number of mammal species (...) (There are) roughly 30 to 60 live birds per person. To say that humans are more successful or advanced really depends on how you define those terms. After all, evolution isn't about advancement; it's about survival. It's about learning to solve the problems of your environment, something birds have done surpassingly well for a long, long time. (...) Perhaps, it's because they're so unlike people that it's difficult for us to fully appreciate their mental capabilities. Birds are dinosaurs, descended from the lucky, flexible few that survived whatever cataclysm did in their cousins. We are mammals, related to the timid, diminutive shrewlike creatures that emerged from the dinosaurs' shadows only after most of those beasts died off. While our mammal relatives were busy growing, birds, by the same process of natural selection, were busy shrinking. While we were learning to stand up and walk on two feet, they were perfecting lightness and flight. While our neurons were sorting themselves into cortical layers to generate complex behavior, birds were devising another neural architecture altogether, different from a mammal's but, in some ways, at least, equally sophisticated. They, like us, were figuring out how the world works, and all the while, evolution was fine-tuning and sculpting their brains, giving their minds the magnificent powers they have today.