
Access to this video is a benefit for members through PBS Passport.
Back to Show
Watch Preview
NOVA
Bird Brain
Season 44
Episode 20
Watch astonishing tests of avian aptitude: parrots that can plan for the future, jackdaws that can “read” human faces, and crows that can solve multi-step puzzles with tools like pebbles, sticks, and hooks. Could these just be clever tricks, based on instinct or triggered by subtle cues from their human handlers?
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By

53:30
Explore the promise and perils of new A.I. technologies.

53:10
Follow the quest to recover DNA millions of years old for the very first time.

53:29
Explore the engineering behind Paris’s iconic landmark, the tallest structure of its time.

53:17
New evidence reveals the real story of Easter Island and the builders of its stone heads.

53:31
Giant fossils uncovered in the Sahara Desert reveal new secrets of how whales evolved.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:30
A family turns to science in their struggle to rediscover a history obscured by slavery.

53:54
Follow the quest to create a lifesaving malaria vaccine.

53:20
The inside story of China’s meteoric rise to the forefront of global innovation.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:15
How did Earth give rise to humans? See what made our species' existence possible.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:45
How did life bounce back after a cataclysmic extinction wiped out some 90% of all species?

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:47
See how life made the leap to land, turning a barren landscape into a lush, green world.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:46
How did life survive on a planet covered in ice from pole to pole?