Bruce, a partially beakless Kea parrot in New Zealand, gives a new meaning to the term “bird brain”.
The rare alpine parrot surprises scientists with its strange adaptive behavior, as it comes carefully from pebbles and twigs perfectly designed to help the bird open up instead of a fully functioning beak.
“Because Bruce’s behavior is constant and repetitive, it is considered intentional and innovative,” said Amalia Bastos, Ph.D. a student at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Bruce’s report was published this week in Scientific Reports. “It’s Bruce’s unique use of tools, and that’s the first scientific observation of that.”
Bastos was attracted to Bruce after zoo keepers at Christchurch’s Willowbank Wildlife Reserve noticed the unique habits of the Kea, unlike any they had observed, according to The Guardian. “We had to prove he was doing it on purpose,” Bastos said.
Over the course of nine days, his team observed that Bruce proceeded to squeeze 90% of the time picking up a pebble; and 95% of the time, when Bruce dropped a pebble, he retrieved it or replaced it with a new one, indicating that he was intentionally buying the right tool to get the job done. Also, no other Kea around him did.
The same kind of practice was seen in rooting for food. “He’ll grab a piece of carrot and use it against a piece of metal or hard rock and use it to scrape with his lower beak, which again is an eating behavior we haven’t seen in other birds,” Bastos said. . . “It’s not the use of tools, but it’s another interesting way he’s adapted to his disability.”
It’s not the first report of pet parrots using external tools for self-care, but it’s rare in the wild, according to Aukland researchers, and even more so to see them do so regardless of training.
“Kea does not regularly show the use of tools in freedom, so having an innovative use of tools in response to their disability demonstrates great flexibility in their intelligence,” Bastos said. “They are able to adapt and flexibly solve new problems as they arise.”
Bruce was discovered as a juvenile in 2013, already missing the top of his beak, probably due to injuries caused by a pest trap, according to his caregivers.
The early bird is now kept in reserve. “He pushes the other birds with his feet. He’s doing pretty well. “
