Higher Emotions

I was watching the pretty chicken try to work on her new foraging toy this morning. It's the rings of fortune where they have to spin consecutive rings to drop the treat to the bottom. She watched me do it yesterday, and I think she understands what she is supposed to do, but she is having issues actually doing it.

Anyway, she started getting frustrated with it, slammed it against the bats of her cage and walked away from it.

It just amazes me the range of emotions parrots have as compared to say a dog or cat. I mean, when do you see a dog get frustrated like that? Desperate to get at the treat , maybe, but not frustrated. What she did, very similar to things I've done myself when frustrated. Get mad at what you're working on, throw it down, and walk away.

I just feel like frustration is one of the "higher level" emotions that not all animals feel. Has anyone ever noticed something similar?

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I have seen like emotions from our DYH Amazon. And, likewise with a foraging toy! Started on top of his cage on the play area. The foraging toy was turning into a really pain, i.e. he was not getting it to open. After a 'I'm pissed at you' push around the top of the cage, he picked it up and sent it fly off the cage top. With that he looked down at it for several moments and than turned away. He has never looked or played with that toy again!

She keeps going back to it, I'm sure she'll eventually get it. I guess she just has to walk away and clear her head before attempting it again. She seems to understand how it works, she just hasn't figured out how to make it work.

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I think they do experience some but not all of the higher emotions. Loyalty, empathy, sadness, pride .. not in their scope. But who knows, parrots are so hard to read sometimes.

Actually, my dogs do experience all those emotions as well. I have seen my dogs throw things when they couldn't get it torn apart, and walk away. I think dogs and cats also experience a wide range of emotions.

Birds are very emotional! No doubt about it!

The Rickeybird strikes me as kind of a Joe Six-Pack kind of guy. He's not particularly brave, smart, or sensitive... but he loves the things he loves (green chiles, me, the giant wok he bathes in) passionately, and hates the stuff he hates (my husband, my cell-phone, people in uniforms) just as passionately. Most of the time he doesn't seem to me to have much else on his mind. Sometimes I sing "My Funny Valentine" to him.

I believe frustration can definitely be felt by parrots. (Or what we perceive as frustration given the differences between avian and mammal brains)

My Goffins exhibit frustration when they are disciplined for minor cause, or when unable to perform a specific act. When they are "finished" with cuddling or being handled and I don't immediately desist, they will give me a peck clearly out of frustration.

Birds do seem to have higher level of emotions very similar to humans. They obviously feel love, grief, joy, and empathy. Remarkable if you consider the tiny pea size brain they have. Another indication of how their brain works is self awareness. Some animals, seeing their reflection in a mirror think its another animal. Most birds that I have owned see their reflection and know they are looking at themselves. They continue to amaze me even after nearly 40 years having them as companions.

I'm sure that birds (even within a species) have that old bell curve of intelligence. Some are smarter; some are... not so smart.
My darling Rickeybird is... not.
The easiest forage toys mystify him; all he can do is scream and bite them. Once the food is removed, he plays happily.
He is stymied by changes in perches. He has to climb all over the cage for ages to get where he wants to go. I've seen other birds look around, assess things, and navigate the shortest route.
It takes him a lonnnnng time to learn little things. I don't think he has ever learned anything by observation.
He's an astonishing mimic (witness his 5-line version of J-Lo's "Booty" song) but the only thing I have seen him use strategically is his imitation of my husband yelling "Gail" for me around the house. I have rewarded that word so obediently that he says it a LOT, and it does melt my heart.
Once many years ago, he was on a perch across the room. We were moving and I was packing boxes. He flew to the floor and ran up to a box that was between the two of us. He furiously tried to bite/push/climb the box, not thinking to go around it OR fly over it. Or maybe he just perceived the box to be an interloper. Either way... poor thing. I went around the box. He saw me and flew up to my shoulder, settled into happy head-bobbing and calling "Gail, Gail, Gayulllll".
He seems to have two modes. One is ecstatically happy, yelling, singing, cuddling; the other is snapping, biting, screetching, running or attacking. Oh yeah, and then there's sleeping.
All that aside, I love him to pieces, as I know is obvious.
I think of him as my little Zack on "Big Bang Theory"... beautiful guy, but not one of the rocket scientists!

Interestingly, of all my parrots, the Ekkies display the least emotion. No doubt they experience the same range as others, but seem far more stoic and difficult to read.

Caveat: This is based on just 2 examples, both of the Vosmaeri sub-species!