Category: Editor Choice

In her latest blog, Dr. Irene Pepperberg explores the delicate question: What technologies help animals thrive versus the benefits to us and our ability to control them? For example, from the animals’ perspective, do piped-in soundtracks at zoo habitats make the animals feel at home, or are they played to enhance the experience for zoo visitors? Should you leave the radio or TV on when you leave home so your bird doesn’t feel alone? Read on for Dr. Pepperberg’s overview of the tech effect on animals.

The infamous Marshmallow Test showed that young children who can delay gratification (waiting 15 minutes earned them an extra marshmallow) are more likely to succeed later in life. But can parrots also learn to delay gratification? In her latest blog, Dr. Irene Pepperberg walks us through her study with African grey parrot Griffin and fellow African greys Pepper and Franco in which their patience would pay off with more nut treats if they learned to wait. See how the greys faired and the study’s biggest takeaways.

In her latest blog, Dr. Irene Pepperberg tells us about a study in which African greys Griffin and Athena, along with a few companion greys, were tested to see if they would work for food just for the fun of it. The study centered on the concept of “contrafreeloading” and involves working for food that could simultaneously be obtained for free. Interestingly, the same experiment was done with wild Kea parrots. See the different outcomes, as well as what parrot species is next in line to be put to the contrafreeloading test.

In her latest blog, Dr. Irene Pepperberg takes us back to when Alex, her African grey protégé, and his numerical abilities: The challenge this time required that Alex comprehend the auditorially presented symbolic numeral label (e.g. “6”) and use its meaning to direct a search for the exact amount specified by that label (e.g. six things); that is, know exactly what a set of “X” individual items is, even when intermixed with other items representing different numerical sets, and he couldn’t just make approximations like label a set of five objects as “six” or “four.” Read on to see why, compared to young children on a similar task, Alex was more successful, and how this study led to an unexpected additional finding.

What’s an academic science lab to do when e-mails from the administration start popping up stating in-person instruction was to cease immediately, followed by directives to vacate the campus in light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis? What if said science lab was home to a flock of parrots known around the world for their contributions to the study of cognitive behavior? Dr. Irene Pepperberg and her research assistants found themselves in a scramble to ensure everyone— birds and humans — found safe places to stay. See where everyone is now.

African grey parrots Athena and Griffin are tasked with the challenge of tracking the larger amount of liquid that is poured into various containers to test their grasp of the concept of “overconservation,” where the experimenter starts with different amounts and tests whether the subjects can track the larger amount after various transformations. See where the parrots succeeded as well as what tended to slip them up on this highly challenging task.