Parrot Tool Use Is a Grind
CBC Radio | Posted: January 29, 2016 8:58 PM | Last Updated: January 29, 2016
Parrots use pebbles to harvest calcium by grinding seashells into powder
The Greater Vasa Parrot is native to Madagascar. Unlike their colourful, talkative relatives, these parrots are a drab gray colour, although they are very social and playful. But a new study by Megan Lambert, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at the University of York in England, has found that this species of parrot has joined the elite group of avian tool users.
In a laboratory setting, Greater Vasa parrots - four males and one female - were observed taking small pebbles or date pits into their beaks and grinding them on the inside of seashells, or using them for breaking off small fragments of shell. The resulting calcium powder and fragments from the shell were then ingested by the birds.
The calcium is likely required for the female parrot's own production of eggshell. It is not known why the males need the calcium.
Related Links
- Paper in Royal Society Biology Letters
- University of York release
- University of St. Andrews release
- National Geographic blog
- University of York release
- University of St. Andrews release
- National Geographic blog