Gyula K. Gajdon^*, Melanie Lichtnegger, Ludwig Huber

Show more
Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Show less

Abstract: Motivational and cognitive aspects of spontaneous tool-use acquisition in species that do not do so habitually, remain an open but most relevant question. To address this, we studied captive kea (Nestor notabilis), New Zealand mountain parrots renowned for their playful cleverness. The majority of adolescent, but not the adult kea, showed a toddler-like motivation to insert objects into empty tubes and also spontaneously used objects in order to eject food from inside a tube. This parallel what is known from object exploration in large brained mammals and shows for the first time in a habitually non-tool using bird that such a technical innovation is based on object-combining acquired outside the foraging context.

Keywords: Animal Cognition; Tool-Use Behaviour; Object Play; Object Exploration; Animal Innovation

Cite this paper: Gajdon, G. , Lichtnegger, M. and Huber, L. (2014) What a Parrot’s Mind Adds to Play: The Urge to Produce Novelty Fosters Tool Use Acquisition in Kea. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 4, 51-58. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2014.42008.

References

[1]   van Schaik, C.P., Daener, R.O. and Merrill, M.Y. (1999) The Conditions for Tool Use in Primates: Implications for the Evolution of Material Culture. Journal of Human Evolution, 36, 719-741.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0304

[2]   Bird, C.D. and Emery, N.J. (2009) Insightful Problem Solving and Creative Tool Modification by Captive Nontool-Using Rooks. PNAS, 106, 10370-10375.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901008106

[3]   Weir, A.A.S., Chappel, J. and Kacelnik, A. (2002) Shaping of Hooks in New Caledonian Crow. Science, 297, 981.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1073433

[4]   Kacelnik, A. (2009) Tools for Thought or Thoughts for Tools? PNAS, 106, 10071-10072.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0904735106

[5]   Jones, T.B. and Kamil, A.C. (1973) Tool-Making and Tool-Using in the Northern Blue Jay. Science, 180, 1076-1078.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.180.4090.1076

[6]   Lind, J., Ghirlanda, S. and Enquist, M. (2009) Insight Learning or Shaping? PNAS, 106, E76.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0906120106

[7]   Huber, L. and Gajdon, G.K. (2006) Technical Intelligence in Animals: The Kea Model. Animal Cognition, 9, 295-305.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0033-8

[8]   Kenward, B., Schlögl, C., Rutz, C., Weir, A.A.S., Bugnyar, T. and Kacelnik, A. (2011) On the Evolutionary and Ontogenetic Origins of Tool-Oriented Behaviour in New Caledonian Crows (Corvus moneduloides). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 102, 870-877.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01613.x

[9]   Auersperg, A.M.I., von Bayern, A.M.F., Gajdon, G.K., Huber, L. and 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, e20231.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020231

[10]   Auersperg, A.M.I., Szabo, B., von Bayern, A.M.P. and Kacelnik, A. (2012) Spontaneous Innovation in Tool Manufacture and Use in a Goffin’s Cockatoo. Current Biology, 22, R903-R904.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.002

[11]   Benson-Amram, S. and Holekamp, K.E. (2012) Innovative Problem Solving by Wild Spotted Hyenas. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B, 279, 4087-4095.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1450

[12]   Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1969) The Psychology of the Child. Basic Books, New York.

[13]   Torigoe, T. (1985) Comparison of Object Manipulation among 74 Species of Non-Human Primates. Primates, 26, 182-194.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02382017

[14]   Visalberghi, E. and Fragaszy, D.M. (2006) What Is Challenging about Tool Use? The Capuchin’s Perspective. In: Wasserman, E.A. and Zentall, T.R., Eds., Comparative Cognition. Experimental Explorations of Animal Intelligence, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 529-552.

[15]   Lockman, J.J. (2000) A Perception-Action Perspective on Tool Use Evelopment. Child Development, 71, 137-144.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00127

[16]   Pepperberg, I.M. and Shive, H.R. (2001) Simultanous Development of Vocal and Physical Object Combinations in a Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Bottles Caps, Lids and Labels. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 115, 376-384.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0735-7036.115.4.376

[17]   McCowan, B., Marino, L., Vance, E., Walke, L. and Reiss, D. (2000) Bubble Ring Play of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): Implications for Cognition. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 114, 98-106.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0735-7036.114.1.98

[18]   Epstein, R., Kirshnit, C.E., Lanza, R.P. and Rubin, L.C. (1984) “Insight” in the Pigeon: Antecedents and Determinants of an Inteligent Performance. Nature, 308, 61-62.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/308061a0

[19]   Emery, N.J. and Clayton, N.S. (2004) The Mentality of Crows: Convergent Evolution of Intelligence in Corvids and Apes. Science, 306, 1903-1907.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1098410

[20]   Veit, L. and Nieder, A. (2013) Abstract Rule Neurons in the Endbrain Support Intelligent Behaviour in Corvid Songbirds. Nature Comunications, 4, Article ID: 2878.