S3 #49 How does playing make birds smarter? Brain-to-brain with Prof. Gisela Kaplan. episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 11, 2026 · 1H 30M

S3 #49 How does playing make birds smarter? Brain-to-brain with Prof. Gisela Kaplan.

from Kaleidoscience: Conversations on Cognitive Science · host Imogen Hüsing, Sophie Kühne, Sönke Lülf, Elisa Palme

Some book publications: Kaplan, Gisela (2019) Bird Bonds: Sex, mate-choice and cognition in Australian native birds. Macmillan/Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney. (ISBN 978-1-76055-420-0, pbk. 354 pp) Kaplan, Gisela (2019) Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird. 2nd edition, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. 2nd ed., ISBN 9781486307241, pbk., 270 pp.  Kaplan, G. (2018) Tawny Frogmouth. 2nd ed., CSIRO, Melbourne. ISBN 9781486308163, pbk. 168 pp. (1st ed. 2007, ISBN 9780643092396, pbk. 155 pp.) Kaplan, G. (2015) Bird Minds. Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. 286 pp. (incl. a 15-page Appendix on brain size and life history data of Australian birds). ISBN 9781486300181. Reprint with corrections of 2015 publication (epdf: 9781486300198; epub: 9781486300204) Some relevant papers:    1. Kaplan, G. (2024). The evolution of social play in songbirds, parrots and cockatoos- emotional or highly complex cognitive behaviour or both? Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105621      2. Rogers, L.J. and Kaplan, G. (2024) Advances in understanding cognition in animals. Ch.4 in L.Levitt, D. B. Rosengard, J.Rubin (eds.) Animals as Crime Victims: Multidisciplinary implications of moving beyond the property paradigm. (pp.53-66) Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802209884.00012      3. Kaplan, G. (2023). Evolution of human language: duetting as part of prosociality and cognition. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1004384       4.  Kaplan, G., Rogers L.J. (2021) Brain size associated with foot preferences in Australian parrots, Symmetry, 13, 867.  https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13050867     5. Kaplan, G. (2021) Psittacine (Parrot) cognition (10,000 word entry) Encyclopaedic essays (by invitation only)-Encyclopaedia of Animal Behaviour and Animal Cognition. Ed. by Jennifer Vonk, Todd K. Shackelford, Springer International Publishing AG/Nature , 6330 Cham, Switzerland Springer     6. Kaplan, G. (2020). Play behaviour, not tool using, relates to brain mass in a sample of birds. Scientific Reports, 10, 20437. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76572-7     7. Kaplan, G. (2020) Visual recognition (5,000 word entry). Encyclopaedic essays (by invitation only)-Encyclopaedia of Animal Behaviour and Animal Cognition. Ed. by Jennifer Vonk, Todd K. Shackelford, Springer International Publishing AG/Nature , 6330 Cham, Switzerland Springer     8. Kaplan, G. (2020) Of great apes and magpies: initiations into animal behaviour. Animals, 10, 848; Special Issue: 'Encountering Animals', Ed. L. Irvine. doi:10.3390/ani10050848      9. Kaplan, G. (2020) Mimicry (5,000 word entry). Encyclopaedic essays (by invitation only)-Encyclopaedia of Animal Behaviour and Animal Cognition. Ed. by Jennifer Vonk, Todd K. Shackelford, Springer International Publishing AG/Nature, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Springer     10. Kaplan, G. (2020) Long-term attachments and complex cognition in birds and humans are linked to pre-reproductive prosociality and cooperation. Constructing a hypothesis. Annals of Cognitive Science 4 (2), 127-142. https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29577     11. Kaplan, G. (2018). Passerine Cognition. (10,000 word entry): In: Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Ed. by Jennifer Vonk, Todd K. Shackelford, Springer International Publishing AG/Nature , 6330 Cham, Switzerland. Podcast Credits: Produced by: Imogen Hüsing, Clara Kühne, Sophie Kühne, Sönke Lülf and Elisa Palme Logo by: Annika Richter Music by: Jan-Luca Schröder Write us an email to: [email protected] Contact us on Instagram: @kaleidoscience_pod

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