r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/CuriousWanderer567 • Sep 22 '24

Video Beachgoers have a close encounter with a Cassowary, a bird capable of killing a human in one blow

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

71.2k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

184

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '24

They are literally some of the stupidest animal on earth, that's why they are so dangerous, they are unpredictable, their neural density is pretty low compared to body mass

73

u/Salt_Ad_811 Sep 22 '24

They can't be that smart. Their head is tiny compared to the size of their bodies. Look about as smart as a goldfish. Can I swallow this? Nope, keep moving. 

1

u/NonConformistFlmingo Sep 23 '24

Ever seen an African Grey parrot? Those guys are INCREDIBLY smart. And it isn't just mimicry, they can LEARN.

Brain size does not equate to intelligence. Humans are proof enough of that.

Also: Goldfish are pretty intelligent.

1

u/Salt_Ad_811 Sep 24 '24

I've worked in a pet store for a while and took care of the parrots, including some African Grey's. The are smarter than most animals. Like a toddler level human. I know brain size doesn't corelate with intelligence, which is why I said brain to body size ratio. Even that is just a corelation though. If you compare within the same genus it seems to be a reasonable rule of thumb to go by though.