Smart parrots like people

African gray parrots have the ability to deduce finding a place to hide food, which only humans and monkeys can do, a study says.

African gray parrot. (Photo: expatads.com).

Scientist Sandra Mikolasch of the Animal Rescue Center, University of Vienna, Austria, and colleagues conducted research on seven African gray parrots with the same two foods that parrots love.

After that, each parrot sees each scientist hide food under two opaque colored cups. Next, the researchers covered the two cups, taking a food out of the cup. Finally, the screen covered the two pulled cups, they tried to see the seven parrots that could find the remaining dish in the cup.

Among them, a parrot named Awisa has done this. It selects exactly 23 of the 30 trials. " Until now only monkeys have been able to carry out this problem, but in easier experiments, and using a penetrating cup ," said Sandra Mikolasch.

" Now we know more gray animals capable of logical reasoning to perform this task, " she added.