Three parrots must have their own teachers

Three parrots must have their own teachers

Research proves that this bird learns to "out of the box" by imitating

Three parrots, parrots must have its three divisions, there must be his teacherstudies have shown that birds learn through imitation "out of the box" Studies have shown that birds learn through imitation "out of the box" Studies have shown that birds learn through imitation "open box"

A cockatoo opened the lid of a household trash can
.

Image credit: Barbara Klump / Max Planck Institute

A cockatoo opened the lid of a household trash can

Recently, a research team composed of scientists from multiple countries described how parrots adapt to urban environmental culture: Cockatoos can learn from each other to acquire a unique skill-lift the lid of the trash can to find food
.

Researchers believe that social learning communication plays an important role in the behavioral acquisition of cockatoos, and many of their "feats" are not the result of genetics
.

Related papers were recently published in "Science"

A "peculiar" behavior

A "peculiar" behavior

"Science China" learned from the Max Planck Society in Germany that a few years ago, Richard Major, senior chief research scientist at the Australian Museum Research Institute, shared a video with Lucy Aplin, who was doing research at the University of Oxford, UK.
The video showed a sunflower-crested cockatoo.
A closed trash can was opened
.

In fact, the process is not complicated, it just lifts the lid of the heavy trash can with its beak and claws, then "kick open" the lid, and finally get a wealth of food
.

But Aplin and her later colleague, Barbara Klump of the Max Planck Institute's Animal Behavior Institute were deeply attracted by this video
.

For Zhiniao, it is not easy to do this

"It is so exciting to observe such an ingenious and innovative way of obtaining food resources, and we immediately knew that we must systematically study this unique foraging behavior
.

" Klump told reporters

Major, who has studied Australian bird species for more than 20 years, has an understanding of noisy small birds, ibis and cockatoos
.

"Like many Australian birds, the sunflower-crested cockatoo is very smart and adapts well to living with humans,

John Martin of the Taranga Conservation Society of Australia has worked with Major on many urban bird projects.

“Australia has a uniform design for trash bins across the country.

However, "it is a challenge to prove that some of the foraging behavior of animals is not derived from genetics,
" Klump said
.

Learned

Learned

As a result, in 2018, researchers launched an online survey in multiple regions of Australia, with questions including: Where do you come from? Have you seen this behavior (cockatoo) before? If you have seen it, when was it?

Martin said, "This two-year survey helped us determine how this behavior spread among the cockatoo population
.

"

As of the end of 2019, residents from 44 regions of Australia reported that they had observed cockatoos opening trash cans, which indicated that it had spread rapidly and widely
.

Further analysis of the survey results shows that this behavior reaches neighboring areas faster than to distant areas, which shows that this new behavior does not appear randomly in a certain area

"These results show that they did learn this behavior from other cockatoos nearby,
" Klump said
.

The researchers also marked about 500 cockatoos with small paint spots in 3 selected hotspots, so that the researchers could observe which birds can open the trash can
.

The results showed that only about 10% of birds can do this, and most of them are males
.
The rest of the birds wait until the "crab-eating" birds open the trash can before they do it themselves
.

However, there is one exception
.
At the end of 2018, a cockatoo in northern Sydney "invented" this technology again
.
Birds in neighboring areas then began to imitate this new behavior
.

Overall, the researchers described the complete path of the propagation of the parrot’s foraging cultural innovation to the geographical variation, proving the existence of the complexity of the parrot culture
.
"We have observed that these birds open trash cans in different ways, and use different'opening' techniques in different suburbs, which proves that this behavior is learned by observing other birds
.
" Klump said
.

Clever parrot

Clever parrot

"Usually, children are good at learning
from society .
From a very young age, they learn skills from other children and adults
.
But compared with humans, there are few known examples of animals learning from each other
.
" Klump said
.

However, the cleverness of parrots is known to everyone
.

Like Alex, the African Grey Parrot, he can speak and count
.
Researchers have found that in addition to being able to speak words, Alex has another "amazing" ability to correctly infer the relationship between cardinal and ordinal words
.
Scientists say that apart from humans, no species has been found to possess this ability before
.

New Zealand carnivorous parrots "can be pinched and counted
.
" In the experiment, the black mark will always have a delicious food ball, while the orange mark will not
.
The scientist placed two transparent jars with a certain number of two types of markers next to the carnivorous parrot, and took out one marker at a time
.
The results indicate that these birds are more likely to peck hands that reach into jars with more black markings
.
Even if the ratio of black and orange marks in this jar is close to 63 to 57
.
Researchers believe that this shows that carnivorous parrots have real statistical inference capabilities
.

Moreover, this is not the first type of parrot that can learn socially, as can the Goffin's Cockatoo
.

A Goffin's Cockatoo named Figaro can spontaneously use the wooden beams of the aviary to make stick tools
.
In order to find out whether this bird can learn to make tools by observing its companions, the scientists selected 12 parrots for experiments
.
A group of parrots watched how Figaro uses a small stick to get the nuts placed in the box
.
The other group watched the "ghost demonstrators" transfer food-a magnet was placed under the table and the researchers controlled it
.

As a result, a group of 3 male parrots and 3 female parrots who watched Figaro's "performance" also picked up the sticks and performed actions that they could recall
.
But only the male parrot became an expert at using tools and successfully obtained nuts
.
And watching a group of "ghost demonstrators" demos, neither male or female can do it
.
Interestingly, these clever observers have developed better technology than Figaro
.
Therefore, the parrot does not exactly copy behaviors, but imitates these behaviors.
This difference implies a certain degree of creativity
.

"By studying the learning behavior of cockatoos with the help of local residents, we discovered the unique and complex culture of this bird
.
The opening of the trash can by parrots is directly related to the opportunities provided by humans, highlighting that culture promotes changes in humans by parrots.
The potential of behavioral response
.
” Klump said that social learning is the foundation of different group cultures.
The emergence, spread and establishment of cultural innovation can promote the adaptive response of animals to human changes
.
In general, some animals, such as primates and birds, seem to have social learning capabilities
.
(Source: Tang Feng, China Science News)

Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1126/science.
abe7808

https://doi.
org/10.
1126/science.
abe7808