Gray Parrot
Gray parrots are known for their intelligence. Researchers working with one gray parrot, named Alex, found that he could communicate with a vocabulary of 150 words.
Parrot experiment
A new study, published June 21 in the journal Royal Society Biological Sciences, finds that parrots can use logical reasoning to find food hidden in one of two cups.
Bird Choices
When one parrot, named Awisa, saw two different types of food placed in a cup and later saw a researcher show her one of the types of food, she figured out that the researcher must have removed the food from one of the cups, leaving the other snack undisturbed. About 75 percent of the time, Awisa picked the undisturbed cup as the one that would contain a food treat.
Parrot Claw
Parrots are the first non-primates to demonstrate this kind of logical reasoning.
Curious Parrot
Human children can make these logical leaps by at least age four.
Bright Birds
Researcher Sandra Mikolasch, pictured here, says the research is reason to treat animals with respect. She did the experiment at a bird rescue facility, and many of the parrots had endured terrible conditions before being taken in by the facility.
