Goffin's cockatoos discriminate objects based on weight alone

Paying attention to weight is important when deciding upon an object's efficacy or value in various contexts (e.g. tool use, foraging). Proprioceptive discrimination learning, with objects that differ only in weight, has so far been investigated almost exclusively in primate species. Here, we s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2021-09, Vol.17 (9), p.20210250-20210250
Main Authors: Lambert, Poppy J, Stiegler, Alexandra, Rössler, Theresa, Lambert, Megan L, Auersperg, Alice M I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Behaviour
Animals
Cockatoos
Cues
Discrimination Learning
Learning
Parrots
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Summary:Paying attention to weight is important when deciding upon an object's efficacy or value in various contexts (e.g. tool use, foraging). Proprioceptive discrimination learning, with objects that differ only in weight, has so far been investigated almost exclusively in primate species. Here, we show that while Goffin's cockatoos learn faster when additional colour cues are used, they can also quickly learn to discriminate between objects on the basis of their weight alone. Ultimately, the birds learned to discriminate between visually identical objects on the basis of weight much faster than primates, although methodological differences between tasks should be considered.
ISSN:1744-957X
1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0250