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Title (eng)
Do kea parrots infer the weight of objects from their movement in a breeze?
Author
Elizabeth Temeroli
Author
Sarah A. Jelbert
Author
Megan L. Lambert
Abstract (eng)
Weight, though it cannot be seen directly, pervades nearly every aspect of an animal's life. However, the extent to which non-human animals reason about the property of weight remains poorly understood. Recent evidence highlights birds as a promising group for testing this ability: for example, New Caledonian crows can infer the weight of objects after observing their movements in a breeze. Here, we tested for similar weight inference abilities in kea (Nestor notabilis), a parrot species known for its sophisticated problem-solving skills. Subjects were trained to exchange objects of a target weight (light or heavy) for a food reward. They were then allowed to observe pairs of novel objects (one light and one heavy) hung in front of an electric fan in both an experimental condition (fan on, light object moving) and a control condition (fan off, both objects motionless). The birds were subsequently presented with test trials in which they could use the information from the demonstration to select an object of their target weight. We found that, unlike New Caledonian crows, kea did not perform significantly better on trials in which they observed the objects' movements and discussed our findings within the context of the kea's highly explorative nature.
Keywords (eng)
AnimalsParrots PhysiologyMaleProblem Solving PhysiologyFemaleWeight Perception PhysiologyMovement
Type (eng)
journal article
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3748
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2024.0405
Is in series
Title (eng)
Biology Letters
Volume
20
Issue
11
ISSN
1744-957X
Issued
2024
Number of pages
6
Publication
The Royal Society
Version type (eng)
version of record (published version)
Date issued
2024
Access rights (eng)
open access
License
CC BY 4.0 International
Rights statement (eng)
© 2024 The Author(s).