Romero
Romero belongs to a bird family so smart they鈥檝e been called 鈥榝eathered apes鈥� - the crows.
At Cambridge University, Eurasian jay Romero was put to the test by researcher Lucy Cheke in a mental challenge inspired by Aesop鈥檚 fable 鈥淭he Crow and the Pitcher鈥�.
Romero was presented with a worm floating in a tube, several stones and a few cork balls. He quickly learned that only stones raised the water level and brought the worm within reach. When researchers carried out the test on children they discovered Romero was performing at the same level as a seven-year-old child.
Lucy describes Romero as 鈥渁 total sweetheart, and a bit of a suck-up. He is the only one of my birds that imitates human speech, greeting me in the morning with 'hello sweet pea' and singing 鈥楲a Cucaracha鈥�. All the technicians love him; he's so social; engaged and engaging. He's great to work with because he's so motivated, always keen to investigate the consequences of his actions which is why I think he did so well on the Aesop's Fable task鈥�.
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