Are birds with bigger brains better able to avoid human hunters?

Bigger-brained birds are better able to distinguish dangerous humans, writes Richard Collins

Between 1960 and 2015, almost 4,000 dead birds were brought to a Danish taxidermist to be ‘stuffed’. The law there requires that details of such victims be logged and the causes of death, if known, recorded. About 300 of the birds, of 197 species, had been shot.

Biologist Anders Møller and taxidermist Johannes Erritzøe, examined the carcasses. The shooting victims, they found, were larger on average than those dying from other causes. Bigger birds, presumably, are easier targets for hunters. Brightly coloured males, not surprisingly, were more frequently shot than duller females.