PARROT LOVERS- CORACOPSIS VASA

My family have been parrot enthusiasts for 24 years and in that time we have kept a variety of different species. My current collection includes my Greater Vasa parrot (Coracopsis vasa), who is named Diesel and is 24 years old. He was the subject of a recently published paper on string-pulling behaviour in this species (a form of means-ends reasoning task which measures physical cognition). (See image 1 in the gallery)

Greater Vasa Parrot

My research into this species has also found that, relative to other parrot species, the Greater Vasa is unusually accomplished not just at the most straightforward versions of this task, but at more complex versions also. Across species there is general intelligence-like factor (which my colleagues and I have termed the General Insight Factor). The Greater Vasa scores more highly on this latent variable than any of the other parrot species for which data were available, suggestive of very high physical cognition and therefore possibly g-factor intelligence. This species has also been found to have the capacity to spontaneously improvise with respect to the use of tools.  More intriguingly, they also engage in tool sharing – which is virtually unheard of, and is suggestive of high social cognition also. (See image 2 in gallery)

Kea Alpine Parrot

In 2020, I was lucky enough to obtain a kea (Nestor notabilis), whose name is Mr. Kea. They are often described as the ‘only alpine parrot’, owing to their habitats being restricted to the colder and higher-altitude mountainous regions of the Southern Isle of New Zealand. They can also be found in the sub-Antarctic beech forests which surround these mountains, where they nest in burrows. They are most notable for having been persecuted owing to their (occasional) killing of sheep, which led to large numbers (tens of thousands) being eradicated for bounties – a process that came to an end in the 70s and 80s when various items of legislation were passed to protect them. Today, they number around 5,000 (although this is not a precise estimate).  

Kea Parrot Incorporated into European and American Aviculture

Fortunately (for those of us who favor ex situ conservation), a decent number were exported from New Zealand at a time when the government would almost pay you to take them away. This led to kea becoming incorporated into European and American aviculture, where they seem to thrive under (suitable) captive conditions. These are nevertheless something of a holy grail for parrot collectors, as their availability in psittaculture is generally extremely low.  (See image 3 in gallery)

kea Bird Intelligence and Demand

These are extremely demanding birds. A very large aviary is needed to house them and their extreme intelligence means that they demand constant novelty and attention (which fortunately I am in a position to provide). Their intelligence is thought to rival that of the larger corvids, such as the common raven (Corvus corax), although comparisons between psittacines and corvids are not easily made however.  In the course of scouring the (extremely thin) literature on captive kea (yes, this is the correct plural, not keas).

Pet Kea Book  by Molly Falla

I came across an extremely obscure text written by Molly Falla, who was the wife of noted New Zealand naturalist Sir Robert Falla. Molly was an accomplished wildlife artist, and she wrote a (beautifully illustrated) book on her experiences in the 1940s with a pet kea (amusingly enough, it was also called Mr. Kea – although judging from the photos the bird is almost certainly a hen). Sadly, the bird died after only five months, however Molly recorded many interesting aspects of the bird’s behaviour including the following anecdote:  (See image 4 in gallery)

 This behaviour strongly resembles something called tactical deception, which is the ability to intentionally manipulate an agent via misrepresentation in order to gain an advantage. This behaviour has been well studied in primates and has even been noted in naturalistic settings in avian species such as ravens and plovers . Curiously, nobody seemed to have thought to check for this behaviour in kea, despite this species being an otherwise extensively used model organism for the study of aspects of avian cognition.  The result of this was a short note drawing attention to the Falla observation published in the journal Notornis, an appropriate enough place for such a thing, given that the journal was founded by her husband!