You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks (if The Dog Is A Parrot)

Like Snapchat abstainers or reluctant Slack users, adult parrots have a hard time learning new tricks. Older birds stay set in their ways while young birds innovate and try new things. Researchers say that s just as it should be even if it means the grownups miss out on a treat now and then.
Young animals might be better at creative problem-solving because they re fearless and like to explore. On the other hand (or paw, or claw), older animals might do better because they have more knowledge and life experience to help them. Studies in monkeys and apes have suggested that adults are the better innovators. But a few studies in birds have found the opposite: juveniles outperform adults at solving problems. To shed some more light on the question, Julia Loepelt and her colleagues at the University of Wellington in New Zealand looked at a wild parrot called the kaka.

The scientists studied birds in a New Zealand wildlife sanctuary called Zealandia. Since all the kakas in the sanctuary get bands put on their legs when they hatch, the scientists knew the age of every bird they saw.

They set up three different experiments at the platforms where the kakas usually feed. These feeding platforms hold little steel boxes filled with parrot pellets. Ordinarily, the birds can access the pellets by stepping on a lever to open the box s lid.

In one experiment, researchers wedged a wooden block under the foot lever. Birds couldn t open the box unless they diagnosed the problem and pulled the block free. (The researchers used cashews instead of parrot pellets to make these experiments more enticing.) In a second experiment, the researchers removed the foot lever altogether. Now, to get food, a bird had to lift the box s lid with its beak.

The third experiment didn t use the metal feeding boxes at all. Instead, researchers attached a wooden dowel to a branch near a feeding station. They tied a long string to the dowel and attached a cashew to the end of it. To get the nut, a bird had to perch on the dowel, reach down, and hoist the string up bit by bit. Like Snapchat abstainers or reluctant Slack users, adult parrots have a hard time learning new tricks. Older birds stay set in their ways while young birds innovate and try new things. Researchers say that s just as it should be even if it means the grownups miss out on a treat now and then.

Young animals might be better at creative problem-solving because they re fearless and like to explore. On the other hand (or paw, or claw), older animals might do better because they have more knowledge and life experience to help them. Studies in monkeys and apes have suggested that adults are the better innovators. But a few studies in birds have found the opposite: juveniles outperform adults at solving problems. To shed some more light on the question, Julia Loepelt and her colleagues at the University of Wellington in New Zealand looked at a wild parrot called the kaka.

The scientists studied birds in a New Zealand wildlife sanctuary called Zealandia. Since all the kakas in the sanctuary get bands put on their legs when they hatch, the scientists knew the age of every bird they saw.

They set up three different experiments at the platforms where the kakas usually feed. These feeding platforms hold little steel boxes filled with parrot pellets. Ordinarily, the birds can access the pellets by stepping on a lever to open the box s lid.

In one experiment, researchers wedged a wooden block under the foot lever. Birds couldn t open the box unless they diagnosed the problem and pulled the block free. (The researchers used cashews instead of parrot pellets to make these experiments more enticing.) In a second experiment, the researchers removed the foot lever altogether. Now, to get food, a bird had to lift the box s lid with its beak.

The third experiment didn t use the metal feeding boxes at all. Instead, researchers attached a wooden dowel to a branch near a feeding station. They tied a long string to the dowel and attached a cashew to the end of it. To get the nut, a bird had to perch on the dowel, reach down, and hoist the string up bit by bit.