academic studies about parrot's problem solving abilities

[ellieelectrons]

Hi All

I happened to come across 2 research papers today Alice Auersperg (Vienna University) and others. They describe some experiments they conducted with Goffin's cockatoo and a Kea and a Crows. I was excited to find the original research paper and not just a link to an article someone had written about the research.

Here are the links to the research papers:
1. Explorative Learning and Functional Inferences on a Five-Step Means-Means-End Problem in Goffin’s Cockatoos (Cacatua goffini)
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi ... ne.0068979

Citation: Auersperg AMI, Kacelnik A, von Bayern AMP (2013) Explorative Learning and Functional Inferences on a Five-Step Means-Means-End Problem in Goffin’s Cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). PLoS ONE 8(7): e68979. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068979

2. Flexibility in Problem Solving and Tool Use of Kea and New Caledonian Crows in a Multi Access Box Paradigm
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0020231

Citation: Auersperg AMI, von Bayern AMP, Gajdon GK, Huber L, Kacelnik A (2011) Flexibility in Problem Solving and Tool Use of Kea and New Caledonian Crows in a Multi Access Box Paradigm. PLoS ONE 6(6): e20231. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020231

Here is an easier-read article reporting on the first paper. The video is cool.
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science ... 01198.html

Enjoy!

Ellie.

[Ring0Neck]

Thanks for sharing Ellie, nice article.


...

“The birds’ sudden and often errorless improvement and response to changes indicates pronounced behavioral plasticity and practical memory. We believe that they are aided by species characteristics such as intense curiosity, tactile exploration techniques and persistence: cockatoos explore surrounding objects with their bill, tongue and feet. A purely visual explorer may have never detected that they could move the locks,” said senior author Dr Auguste von Bayern of Oxford University.

quiet impressive

83IV

[ellieelectrons]

Thanks for sharing Ellie, nice article.

You're welcome.

Quote:
“The birds’ sudden and often errorless improvement and response to changes indicates pronounced behavioral plasticity and practical memory. We believe that they are aided by species characteristics such as intense curiosity, tactile exploration techniques and persistence: cockatoos explore surrounding objects with their bill, tongue and feet. A purely visual explorer may have never detected that they could move the locks,” said senior author Dr Auguste von Bayern of Oxford University.

quite impressive

Agreed!

Ellie