Lovebirds can self-recognize

[Kitekeeper]

Hi all,

This is a very interesting subject! Just recently a scientific paper showed that Agapornis roseicollis are able to recognize themselves in front of a mirror. They have just passed the "mark test"!!

https://www.growkudos.com/publications/10.1163%252F1568539x-bja10238/reader

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

This is good news!

I follow someone on instagram and they spread so much false information about parrots whilst saying they're a rescue and deleting any comments they disagree with, and one of the things they posted was that parrots can't recognise themselves in a mirror. I'm half tempted to send this to them.

 

[Kitekeeper]

This is good news!

I follow someone on instagram and they spread so much false information about parrots whilst saying they're a rescue and deleting any comments they disagree with, and one of the things they posted was that parrots can't recognise themselves in a mirror. I'm half tempted to send this to them.

Indeed these are good news! I wonder which other parrot species may perform the way lovebirds did.

In the paper there is an interesting discussion about the levels of awareness. In a cited reference inside the paper, it is pointed out that children under two years old can not recognize themselves in the mirror yet.

As far as I know, lovebirds are the first parrot species to pass the test. If the person in the instagram want to be particular he/she may point that no other parrot was proven so far....anyway lovebirds do and that´s a parrot too.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Indeed these are good news! I wonder which other parrot species may perform the way lovebirds did.

In the paper there is an interesting discussion about the levels of awareness. In a cited reference inside the paper, it is pointed out that children under two years old can not recognize themselves in the mirror yet.

As far as I know, lovebirds are the first parrot species to pass the test. If the person in the instagram want to be particular he/she may point that no other parrot was proven so far....anyway lovebirds do and that´s a parrot too.

It's definitely interesting, my conures love mirrors but they know it's not another bird that they're looking at as they don't try and interact with it at all. I'm not sure they know it's them, but it would be interesting to see. They mostly like licking mirrors (and windows) for some reason. They can recognise other birds in the mirror though. I just got a new cage for mine that stacks and where it's positioned they can see the other birds in my full length mirror. My conure is bonded to one of my cockatiels and for the first few days they both tried to get to the mirror whilst screaming because they could see each other in it.

I won't share it with that person as I'm sure I'll just get blocked or a video made about me (which they've done to other people)

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hi all,

This is a very interesting subject! Just recently a scientific paper showed that Agapornis roseicollis are able to recognize themselves in front of a mirror. They have just passed the "mark test"!!

https://www.growkudos.com/publications/10.1163%252F1568539x-bja10238/reader

View attachment 54808

This is really fascinating. People have been saying for years that birds are not cognitively advanced enough to understand that the bird in the mirror is not another bird, yet this simple experiment proved them wrong. I'm sure it's not exclusive to Lovebirds. I assume the researchers prepared the lovebirds for this experiment by somehow getting them to understand that they don't have black blotches where the stickers were placed. There wasn't enough information in the link for me to see how they did that. I wish I could access the full text without paying $35.

I wonder what the result would be if a young lovebird was marked in the same area with a non-toxic marker. Would it grow to believe it had a black spot there naturally and ignore the spot when it sees itself in a mirror? That would be a really interesting experiment.

 

[Kitekeeper]

This is really fascinating. People have been saying for years that birds are not cognitively advanced enough to understand that the bird in the mirror is not another bird, yet this simple experiment proved them wrong. I'm sure it's not exclusive to Lovebirds. I assume the researchers prepared the lovebirds for this experiment by somehow getting them to understand that they don't have black blotches where the stickers were placed. There wasn't enough information in the link for me to see how they did that. I wish I could access the full text without paying $35.

I wonder what the result would be if a young lovebird was marked in the same area with a non-toxic marker. Would it grow to believe it had a black spot there naturally and ignore the spot when it sees itself in a mirror? That would be a really interesting experiment.

Good thinking Donna!

These birds were subjected to the classic Mark test, that was first performed in chimpanzees in the 70´s. It is a condition for this test that the animal must have been introduced to its image in the mirror for some time, before putting the mark on its body. So you might be correct, if they were first introduced with their image with a painted black spot, they probably would believe the spot was a normal part of their bodies...unless....they had not observed any spot on other lovebirds but them...they could associate that if others had not spots, why would they have and then try to touch it.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Good thinking Donna!

These birds were subjected to the classic Mark test, that was first performed in chimpanzees in the 70´s. It is a condition for this test that the animal must have been introduced to its image in the mirror for some time, before putting the mark on its body. So you might be correct, if they were first introduced with their image with a painted black spot, they probably would believe the spot was a normal part of their bodies...unless....they had not observed any spot on other lovebirds but them...they could associate that if others had not spots, why would they have and then try to touch it.

Thanks for the background info. It seems that our birds aren't the "birdbrains" people say they are!