Parrots have gone viral across the web for their intelligent behavior—they marvelously display the ability to talk, solve problems, and even match colored toys. A study out of Spain has also shown that African grey parrots can “lend a wing” to other parrots by manipulating objects, even when there’s nothing in it for them.
Scientists have long known that parrots, alongside crows, ravens, and magpies, are equipped with incredible brains rivaling those of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas. This has led to the birds’ often garnering the moniker “feathered apes.”
Although cooperative behavior has been observed among parrots in the wild, “voluntary prosocial” helping behavior has been exhibited for the first time in a non-mammalian species in a study out of Spain.
Scientists looked at 14 African grey parrots that “voluntarily” participated (they were free to opt out) that were grouped in pairs. The birds were tested to see if one would help the other by providing it with a token that could be exchanged for food. Needless to say, they did.
The pair were taken into a plexiglass enclosure with a plexiglass partition separating them. On either side of the glass, facing the researcher there was one round hole for each bird, through which the researcher could provide pieces of walnut for them.
Two additional holes were in the partition separating them that allowed the parrots to transfer objects to each other.
Building upon previous experiments where these same African grey parrots had learned to exchange tokens, metal rings, with researchers for food, they were now presented with a new prospect:
The researchers covered one of the feeding holes so only one parrot, the “partner,” could perform the exchange for food with the researcher, while the other, the “actor,” had sole access to the tokens placed on its side.
From the very first session, the researchers found that the actor—who had tokens but no opportunity to exchange them for food—consistently and spontaneously provided tokens to its partner when a researcher held out her open palm before the opening.
This helping behavior can only mean that the actor has some understanding of its partner’s action-based goal. Teasing out the birds’ motives, the underlying instrumental helping paradigm of this study is considered “more cognitively demanding,” the researchers said.
To qualify this helping motive, they conducted a number of control experiments to eliminate other possibilities:
When both exchange holes were covered and researchers were absent (presenting no opportunity for reward), the actor parrot provided significantly fewer tokens to its partner, proving that the offers did not result from social engagement or playfulness.
And significantly fewer rings were transferred when just the actor parrot was present without its partner, indicating it was not merely moving the tokens as close as possible to the researcher’s hand.
Concurrently, the roles of partner and actor were reversed later, which the parrots could not have anticipated at the outset, proving that the parrot did not expect a “favor” in return.
From the start, when an opportunity arose to help, they did so—otherwise, they did not.
The researchers hypothesized that the greater social cognitive abilities of African grey parrots might connect to the huge size of their flocks for roosting with up to 1,200 birds.
The study also looked at blue-headed macaws, which did not show the same results as African grey parrots; the blue-headed macaws tried to move the tokens as close as possible toward the exchange hole but did not provide help. The much smaller size of their flocks, between 10 and 30 birds, and more restricted interaction with partners might explain this.
Whether the helpfulness of African grey parrots results from some intrinsic motive to lend a wing to birds of a feather, or whether they anticipate future favors in return remains uncertain. Yet the researchers hope to tease out those answers from further studies.
