"Insightful" string-pulling in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is affected by vocal competence.
Four Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were tested on their ability to obtain an item suspended from a string such that mutiple, repeated, coordinated beak-foot actions were required for success (e.g., Heinrich 1995). Those birds with little training in referential English requests (e.g. "I want X") succeeded, whereas birds who could request the suspended item failed to obtain the object but engaged in repeated requesting.
Pepperberg
Irene M
IM
MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Bldg 7-231, 77 Massachusetts Ave, MA 02139, Cambridge, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu.
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010311:Parrots; D011340:Problem Solving; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014828:Vocalization, Animal