Studies on nonalien species have not produced similar results, leading researchers to speculate that avian social learning may be fundamentally different from that of mammals.

Any shortening of the food chain is likely to destabilise entire ecosystems, possibly leading to new ones in which just one or two species, such as jellyfish, predominate.

Smith is a leading researcher of poisonous and venomous fish, and says that, while snakes are more often associated with venom, there are far more poisonous species of fish.