【The New Yorker】The Magic of Bird Brains

bait

意味　＜えさを＞〈釣り針〉に付ける, 〈わな〉に仕掛ける ＜with＞.

Outside his office, Jiguet began baiting net traps with kitchen scraps such as raw eggs and bits of chicken. He removed one bird at a time with his bare hands. Then he stuffed the bird into a cloth tube that he had cut from his daughter’s leggings, to immobilize the bird while he recorded its weight on a scale. Finally, he strapped a colorful ring, which was labelled with a three-digit number, to the bird’s leg.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-magic-of-bird-brains

erect

意味　〈建物· 塀· 像など〉を建てる, 建築する, 建立する (build)

Eventually, Jiguet erected a metal cage the size of a wood shed in the garden, to trap the birds. Crows could fly in, but they couldn’t escape until Jiguet let them out. Although some of the birds meekly accepted their fates, some pecked at him furiously when he ringed their legs.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-magic-of-bird-brains

manhandle

意味　〈人〉を手荒く動かす, 扱う; …を乱暴に押し込む [追いやる] .

The birds were not very appreciative, however. Many of them remembered when Jiguet had caged, manhandled, and banded them. Some had never flown into his trap, but still learned from their peers and joined in the cawing. Crows even recognized him when he showed up for work in a surgical mask, after months of working from home during the pandemic. Jiguet, a lifelong bird-watcher, was learning how it feels when birds watch back.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-magic-of-bird-brains

一度やられたら仲間にも教える＆一生覚えて警戒対象認定するっていうもんね。研究のためとはいえつらいなw

dumpster diver

意味　ごみ箱あさり.

In 2008, Joshua Klein, a hacker who often wore tight black T-shirts, gave a TED talk about the intelligence of crows. Crows are notorious dumpster divers, but Klein was convinced that a “crow vending machine” could train them to collect trash and other items, like coins. “Let’s build something that’s mutually beneficial,” he said, “and find some way to make a new relationship with these species.”

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-magic-of-bird-brains

カラスは遠目で見るとかっこいいんだけどねー近くでカーカー鳴かれるとやっぱり怖さが勝つのよね。

chute

意味　シュート (ごみ· 郵便物· 石炭· 穀物などを滑らせて落とす装置)

First, Klein planned to mix food and coins on the machine’s platform. Once crows got used to feeding there, he would remove the food. When hungry crows knocked a coin down a chute, whether by accident or in frustration, a sensor would command the machine to release some food. Klein predicted that a few crows would learn the association between their undirected action and the reward, and start bringing coins of their own accord. Others would then copy the behavior.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-magic-of-bird-brains

頭いいなー。素晴らしい。