Recent developments in parrot cognition: a quadrennial update

Abstract

Psittacines, along with corvids, are commonly referred to as ‘feathered apes’ due to their advanced cognitive abilities. Until rather recently, the research effort on parrot cognition was lagging behind that on corvids, however current developments show that the number of parrot studies is steadily increasing. In 2018, M. L. Lambert et al. provided a comprehensive review on the status of the most important work done so far in parrot and corvid cognition. Nevertheless, only a little more than 4 years after this publication, more than 50 new parrot studies have been published, some of them chartering completely new territory. On the 25th anniversary of Animal Cognition we think this warrants a detailed review of parrot cognition research over the last 4 years. We aim to capture recent developments and current trends in this rapidly expanding and diversifying field.

Have we met? New insights into the role of head and body cues in the visual recognition of conspecifics in gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus).

“…Moreover, in comparative psychology, birds, particularly parrots, are more and more frequently tested in direct comparison with primates. Comparisons of social cognition may include paradigms that assume individual recognition such as, for example, setups that require different reactions depending on the state of knowledge of a particular subject and setups that require prosocial behavior or cooperation (summaries in Lambert et al, 2019; Rössler & Auersperg, 2023). We often design the respective setups from our primate-like viewpoint which may not necessarily enable a fair comparison from a bird’s perspective.…”

What We (Don’t) Know about Parrot Welfare: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Such popularity can be attributed to their bright and colourful plumages, but more importantly to their unique learning abilities which are comparable to those of human toddlers (7)(8)(9)(10). Parrots, supported by large and neuron-rich forebrains (11,12), can use and even manufacture tools (13)(14)(15)(16), think economically (17,18), succeed in problem solving, reasoning and planning tasks (19), and even remember their own past actions (20), an important prerequisite for self-awareness. Parrots also show different kinds of social competences: they can cooperate during problem-solving tasks (21)(22)(23)(24), learn from conspecifics (25,26) and exhibit prosocial behaviours (27)(28)(29).…”