Did you know that despite expressions such as "birdbrain", birds are very intelligent creatures? To demonstrate this, Auguste von Bayern brings Dohli, a jackdaw who is very close to her, on stage to be the first corvid ever to appear in a TEDx talk. She goes on to explain how certain bird species can innovate, reason, and even make novel tools to accomplish their goals all with Dohli watching (and complaining!) first from her shoulder, and then from the back of the auditorium.

Auguste von Bayern is a zoologist who seeks to understand how animals, in particular corvids (birds of the crow family) and parrots think. Her research interests comprise sociocognitive abilities as well as flexible problemsolving skills and vocal learning abilities of these birds. Auguste has been fascinated by wild animals and animal behavior since childhood. Inspired by scientists such as Jane Goodall and Konrad Lorenz, she raised Canadian geese from the egg and studied their behavior from the moment of hatching when she was still at school.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx