The nature reserve adopted Bruce the parrot in 2013, even though he was young, he lost the upper part of his beak due to an attack by a parasite. But this rare alpine parrot is surprising scientists with its strange adaptive behavior when it chooses to use appropriately shaped pebbles and branches to create a fake beak instead. for the disabled beak, according to The Guardian.
“Because Bruce’s behavior was consistent and repetitive, it was seen as intentional and creative,” said Amalia Bastos, a PhD student at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. in the journal Scientific Reports.
Bruce the parrot uses a piece of wood instead of a beak. (Image: Animal Minds / University of Auckland)
Ms Bastos was attracted to Bruce the parrot after zookeepers at the Willowbank Wildlife Sanctuary in Christchurch noticed its unique habits, unlike any they had ever observed. . “We need to show that he did this on purpose,” Ms. Bastos said.
During nine days of observations, her team found that Bruce the parrot spends 90% of the time looking for the right pebbles and in 95% of the cases when he drops a pebble, he picks it up or replaces it with a new one. new pebble – all of which make it clear that it is trying to choose the right tool to perform everyday tasks. Furthermore, no other parrots around Bruce parrot are doing this.
Parrot uses gravel as “‘tool of labor'”. (Image: Animal Minds / University of Auckland)
The same type of practice is seen when Bruce the parrot is looking for food. “It will pick up a piece of carrot and push it against a piece of metal or hard rock to break it down, again this is feeding behavior we haven’t seen in other birds,” Ms Bastos said. “It’s not about using tools, but it’s another interesting way it has adapted to its disability.”
Bruce, a partially missing Kea parrot from New Zealand, is amusing researchers with its stellar intelligence.
This isn’t the first documented report of parrots knowing how to use tools, according to the Aukland researchers, but it is rare in the wild, especially without training.
Parrots have long been considered one of the birds with the highest intelligence and the ability to mimic speech like humans. Neuroscientists at the University of Alberta (Canada) have identified a special neural circuit in the brains of parrots. They believe this is the reason behind their superior intelligence and this finding proves once again that they have a very special brain.
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