Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
Okay, hold onto your perch, because the secret lives of parrots are apparently way more dramatic (and confusing) than we thought.
The Social Whirlwind (Or Lack Thereof?)
Scientists, bless their clipboards, admit that while everyone *thinks* parrots have these intense social soap operas going on in the wild, actually *studying* it is like trying to herd cats… with wings… that can mimic your frustrated sighs.
For ages, researchers mostly focused on the easy stuff: “Who squawked what?” and “Did that Grey parrot learn that dirty word from Uncle Kevin?” Deep dives into parrot niceness (prosociality) or whether they throw tantrums when things aren’t fair (inequity aversion) were basically ignored.
Think of it as only studying human communication by analyzing phone bills and ignoring all the juicy gossip and workplace drama. But lately, the scientists have started peeking behind the curtain.
Who’s That Good-Looking Bird?” – The Mirror Debacle
You know that test where they put a dot on an animal and see if it tries to rub it off while looking in a mirror? It’s supposed to prove self-awareness.
Well, they tried it on keas and Goffin’s cockatoos. They put marks on their bellies, and the birds were like, “Oi! What’s this smudge?” and cleaned it off. Success?
Not so fast. Put the mark anywhere else (like, you know, the *head*, where the test usually happens), and the birds just stared blankly. Maybe they admired their reflection, maybe they wondered if the scientist had lost their mind, but they certainly didn’t touch the mark.
They also didn’t spend *more* time checking themselves out in the mirror. The scientists concluded: “Nope, no self-recognition here.” The parrots probably concluded: “Humans are weird. Is this dot avant-garde?”
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work (Sometimes. Maybe. If Trained Properly.)
Ah, cooperation! The classic ‘two birds pull a string to get snacks’ test. With keas, it was a comedy of errors.
One study: dismal success (18.9%). Another study, basically the same setup: amazing success (over 83%)! What gives?
Turns out, it might be down to the training. In the flop study, the keas basically trained with a human who *always* pulled their end.
They learned “pull when human pulls,” not “pull when Kevin the Kea finally stops preening and pays attention.” The successful keas learned the hard way that *both* ends needed pulling *at the same time*.
Later, they gave the struggling keas remedial training, basically forcing them to watch the human partner like hawks (ironically).
*Then* they put them back with other keas. Suddenly, teamwork! They aced it (100% success in most pairs!). They could even wait (up to 6 seconds!) for a partner if the rope was long enough. Shorter rope? Patience wore thin faster.
They even managed a three-way setup where one bird had to juggle two partners sequentially. Apparently, waiting for Gary while finishing up with Steve felt more natural than being blocked by a weird science barrier.
They even got dominant keas to stop shoving others off the snack platform and cooperate in groups of four!
Blue-throated macaws? They could pull the string together if handed it simultaneously (73.75% success). Weirdly, they did *better* when they *couldn’t see* their partner (87.22%)! Maybe performance anxiety?
Unlike the trained keas, though, they couldn’t wait. If their partner was delayed, they just shrugged (metaphorically) and presumably thought, “String available? Must pull NOW.” Training, people! It’s everything!
Sharing is Caring (Unless You’re a Macaw, Apparently)
Are parrots nice? Do they help each other out? African grey parrots, it seems, have a heart (sometimes). In one test, they’d pass tokens to a buddy who could then trade it for food, especially if the buddy looked needy.
Blue-throated macaws? Nah. They mostly kept the tokens, regardless of the situation. The scientists think maybe it’s because African greys live in more fluid social groups where being nice might pay off later. Macaws might be more cliquey.
Goffin’s cockatoos got a different test: one bird had a locked box with a treat, the other had a selection of tools. Could the tool-bird pass the *correct* tool to the box-bird? Well… some did.
Three specific cockatoos seemed to get the idea, especially one star pupil named Figaro (probably) who usually passed the right tool first. So, maybe some cockatoos are helpful, especially to their friends?
Then there are the token *choice* tasks. Choose token A, you get a treat, partner gets nothing (selfish). Choose token B, you *both* get a treat (prosocial).
African greys and keas often *looked* prosocial, picking the ‘share’ token. But… they also picked it when there was no partner, or when the partner couldn’t get a reward anyway.
Oops. Maybe they just liked the look of two treats, even if one wasn’t for them? The scientists suspect they didn’t *really* get the rules, bless their feathery hearts.
“That’s Not FAIR!” (Or Maybe It Is? Parrots Seem Confused)
Do parrots hate inequality? If Kevin gets a fancy walnut and you only get a sunflower seed for the *same* work, do you flip the perch? The results are… murky.
Keas didn’t seem bothered if their partner got rewarded for less work or got better snacks.
African greys were weird: sometimes unequal rewards made them *more* likely to choose the ‘share’ token (maybe seeing the *good* treat made them want it, even if it went to the other guy?). Other times, less likely. Overall, no strong signs of “Hey, that’s unfair!” protests.
Goffin’s cockatoos? They didn’t care much if their partner got a better reward for the same work. But they *did* exchange fewer tokens if their partner got the treat for *free* while they had to work for it. And if the unfairness got *really* bad (they got nothing at all), they just stopped playing. Which might be fairness rage, or just common sense: “No pay, no play.”
Gossip Girls and Bin Bandits: Learning from Others
Do parrots eavesdrop? Seems like it! Wild conures listened to recordings of fake parrot conversations and preferred to approach the speaker playing the ‘leader’ call. They were totally judging the interaction from afar.
And the sulphur-crested cockatoos opening wheelie bins in Australia? That’s not just random; it’s spreading like a viral TikTok challenge! Scientists tracked it geographically and found different ‘styles’ of bin-opening popping up in different areas. Parrot culture! Who knew? They’re basically feathered influencers setting foraging trends.
The Punchline
So, after all this poking, prodding, and token-trading, what have we learned? Keas can be trained into decent colleagues.
African Greys might share, Macaws probably won’t. Nobody seems overly fussed about fairness unless they’re getting absolutely nothing. And some cockatoos are starting local bin-raiding traditions.
The scientists are still figuring it out, probably muttering about “task contingencies” and “socio-ecological relevance.” The parrots? They’re likely back in their cages, judging our fashion choices, plotting their next snack heist, and wondering when the humans will finally figure out the *really* important stuff, like the optimal angle for head scratches.
Written by Mitch Rezman and the Windy City Parrot content team.
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