African grey parrots are smart enough to help a bird in need

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African grey parrots are smart enough to help a bird in need

9 January 2020
By Michael Le Page



African grey parrots proving just how smart they are
Anastasia Krasheninnikova

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2229571-african-grey-parrots-are-smart-enough-to-help-a-bird-in-need/#ixzz6B7GdUJkB


African grey parrots are not only really smart, they are helpful too. They are the first bird species to pass a test that requires them both to understand when another animal needs help and to actually give assistance.

Besides humans, only bonobos and orangutans have passed this test, says Désirée Brucks at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany. Even chimps and gorillas have failed at it.

Brucks and her colleague Auguste von Bayern first trained birds one at a time. Each was given a pile of tokens – small metal washers – and taught that they could exchange them for food by passing them to a researcher through a small hole in a clear screen.

A month later, two birds were separated from each other and the researcher by clear screens. One bird was given a pile of tokens but the hole between it and the researcher was blocked.

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Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2229571-african-grey-parrots-are-smart-enough-to-help-a-bird-in-need/#ixzz6B7FmSQFc

[dewsgirl]

1. I had an African Grey for 10 years, not only are they highly

intelligent, they are also incredibly charismatic.

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2. They seem remarkable.

It's always struck me as odd that parrots, corvids, etc., are so smart, but their brains are so tiny.

[dewsgirl]

3. I know right. They have the intelligence of an average 4-5

year old human, simply amazing.

[hunter]

5. Birds pack more cells into their brains than mammals

New research reveals the secret behind the remarkable intelligence of some bird species

Calling someone "bird brain" used to be considered as an insult. Birds' brains are very small compared to those of mammals, and what’s more, they lack the heavily wrinkled cerebral cortex, which is characteristic of the human brain, and widely believed to the seat of intelligence. It was, therefore, widely assumed that birds aren’t very clever creatures, but recently this has started to change.

Recently, though, it has emerged that some bird species have remarkable cognitive abilities. In particular, crows, ravens and the like have sophisticated tool-making skills that equal, and perhaps surpass, those of chimpanzees; they can even anticipate the future, and recognise themselves in the mirror. How can they do all this with their walnut-sized brains? New research shows that some birds have very large numbers neurons packed into their brains, comparable to, or even exceed, the numbers of cells than the brains of mammals, which may endow them with greater computational power.

--more--

https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2016/jun/15/birds-pack-more-cells-into-their-brains-than-mammals

Birds can't carry a lot of excess baggage because they fly. Evolution favored a lightweight and very efficient physiology, including their brains.

[sl8]

6. Very interesting, thank you. n/t

[GumboYaYa]

4. A close friend from college has an African Grey

that he has had since we were in school together. I love the bird and spent a lot of time with him 30 years ago. I see my friend (and his bird) every couple of years now. The parrot still remembers me and gets excited when I come around.