Add parrots to the list of creatures that are apparently capable of using tools, as a new study by psychologists from the University of York and the University of St. Andrews has found that the tropical birds are able to utilize pebbles and date pits to gain obtain calcium in seashells.
Writing in the latest edition of the journal Biology Letters, lead author Megan Lambert and her colleagues explained that they were studying 10 captive greater vasa parrots (Coracopsis vasa) when they observed the birds using tools to grind calcium power of the shells or to break off small fragments that they could ingest.
The behavior had never been reported in this species before, Lambert’s team explained, and is the first time that nonhumans have been seen using tools for grinding purposes. Furthermore, the birds were seen sharing tools among themselves—also a rarity among nonhuman creatures.
Tool use innate in parrots, or is this a case of trial and error?
The authors monitored and filmed the parrots from March through October as they interacted with cockle shells (a common source of calcium for birds) on the floor of their aviary. Five out of 10 birds being observed were documented using either pebbles or date pits as tools inside the shells—either as a way to grind off calcium flakes or break off pieces of the shell.
The birds exhibited the greatest interest in the shells just prior to the breeding season, in March and early April, and Lambert and her colleagues believe that this may be because of the key role of calcium in the egg-laying process. Oddly, they found that males were initially most interested in the shells, and that they tended to engage in regurgitative feeding of females prior to mating with them. This practice may pass along the benefits of the calcium.
“The use of tools by nonhuman animals remains an exceedingly rare phenomenon. These observations provide new insights into the tool-using capabilities of parrots and give rise to further questions as to why this species uses tools,” Lambert explained in a statement.
“Tool use could reflect an innate predisposition in the parrots, or it could be the result of individual trial and error learning or some form of social learning,” she added. “Whether these birds also use tools in the wild remains to be explored, but ultimately these observations highlight the greater vasa parrot as a species of interest for further studies of physical cognition.”
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Feature Image: Dave Ellis/Flickr
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