What makes parrots unique

The researchers determined this by mapping the structures of 98 bird brain specimens held at the University of Lethbridge , which houses one of the largest collections of avian brains in the world. The researchers dissected brains from a wide variety of bird species, ranging from parrots to hummingbirds. Compared with other major avian groups, such as chickens, waterfowl, owls and even songbirds -- most of which, particularly the corvids, are very intelligent in their own right -- the researchers found that parrots had significantly larger SpMs compared to the size of their brains.

Corellas are very intelligent cockatoos that are known to make and use their own tools. Convergent evolution is a process where unrelated organisms independently evolve similar traits or physical structures to adapt to similar environmental challenges or ecological niches.

This suggests there are a number of other, as yet unknown, factors that also play a role in avian intelligence. For example, a recent study found that birds are much more efficient than mammals in how they pack neurons into their brains ref , so bird brains contain far more neurons per square inch than do mammal brains. An earlier study found that avian brains have a dorsal ventricular ridge ref , which is the equivalent to the neocortex in humans. The neocortex is responsible for higher-order functions such as conscious thought, sensory perception, spatial reasoning, and language.

Some parrots are more intelligent than humans, on average. The kea Nestor notabilis , is one of This is a wild juvenile Kea in the mountains near Queenstown, New Zealand. Although Dr. But already, Dr. Iwaniuk, and Douglas R. Wylie Parrots have evolved a primate-like telencephalic-midbrain-cerebellar circuit , Scientific Reports , 8 doi: Lori Marino Sign in.

Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. More to Explore I. Vocal learning in grey parrots Psittacus erithacus : Effects of social interaction, reference, and context. The Auk , 2 Martella, M. Vocalizations of the monk parakeet. Bird Behav. Vocal labeling of family members in spectacled parrotlets, Forpus conspicillatus.

Female canaries are sexually responsive to special song phrases. Animal Behaviour 49 6 : Wright, T. Regional dialects in the contact call of a parrot. Geographical variation in the contact calls of orange-fronted Parakeets.

The Auk , 4 : P. Kleeman And J. Gilardi Geographical variation of St. Lucia parrot flight vocalizations. The Condor , ? Song-type matching between neighbouring song sparrows. Animal Behaviour , 59, 21?

Pet parrots can be incredible if demanding friends, but for people more accustomed to fluffy mammalian companions, they can present some unexpected challenges. The long-lived, intelligent and highly social birds need especially high amounts of attention and enrichment, or else they can pick up bad habits and find themselves bored and stressed to the point where they pluck out their own feathers.

While some pet parrots come from breeders, trade in exotic parrots is big business around the globe, and it contributes significantly to their decline in the wild. Thankfully trafficking in wild birds has been less of a problem in the U. Now, in honor of the 14th annual National Bird Day , get a little bird-brained with these 14 facts about parrots:.

As a famous research subject, the African grey parrot Alex was said to have the intelligence of a human 5-year-old. Now the psittacine tribe can claim another brainy feat: tool use. Researchers at the University of York and the University of St. Andrews observed captive greater vasa parrots Coracopsis vasa using date pits and pebbles to pulverize cockle shells.

Male vasas ate the powder and then offered a regurgitated calcium-rich snack to females before mating. Be thankful you get chocolates. Like most other birds, parrots have four toes per foot.

But instead of the usual three-in-front-one-behind arrangement, parrot toes are configured for maximum grip: two in front and two behind, like two pairs of opposable thumbs.

Many parrots are omnivores and will eat pretty much anything—fruit, seeds, nuts, insects and even meat. Some species, like the rainbow-colored lories and lorikeets of the South Pacific, feed almost exclusively on nectar with brush-tipped tongues, though recently even these birds were seen eating meat at feeding stations in Australia. In New Zealand, native kea Nestor species were first observed attacking and killing sheep in and were persecuted as sheep-killers until , when they were granted protected status.

Of the roughly known species of parrots, most live in the tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, Asia, Central and South America and Africa.

But some parrots break that geographic mold. Keas live in alpine regions of New Zealand and nest in ground burrows, while the endangered maroon-fronted parrot Rhynchopsitta terrisi dwells at 6, feet in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains of Mexico.