Abstract
Cooperation is a complex behaviour found in many kinds of organisms and occurs between individuals of the same and different species. Several studies have examined the intentionality of this behaviour by testing the animals’ understanding of the need for a partner when working in pairs. The mammalian species tested express such understanding, whereas most tested birds fail, especially when the test involves a delayed access to the setup by one of the co-operators. In the present study, the cooperative problem-solving capability of four peach-fronted conures (Eupsittula aurea) was investigated with the loose string test. All four parrots solved the paradigm by simultaneously pulling the ends of the same string to bring a platform with a food reward within reach. They were also capable of solving the task when one of the co-operators was delayed, even when visually isolated from each other. To further test their comprehension and to exclude the birds relying on task-associated cues, we video-recorded the trials and quantified possible cues and strategies for timing the pulling behaviour (e.g., sound of the partner’s door when opening, sound of steps of partner approaching). The preferred cue to start pulling was to wait for their partner’s arrival to the string. The number of vocalisations was significantly higher during visually isolated conditions and for successful trials compared to failed trials, suggesting possible information exchange. Our findings show that peach-fronted conures can solve a cooperative task, and that cooperation success is not determined by external cues or by partner identity or affinity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam TC (2010) Competition encourages cooperation: client fish receive higher-quality service when cleaner fish compete. Anim Behav 79:1183–1189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.02.023
Archetti M, Scheuring I (2012) Game theory of public goods in one-shot social dilemmas without assortment. J Theor Biol 299:9–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.06.018
Aureli F et al (2008) Fission-fusion dynamics: new research frameworks. Curr Anthropol 49:627–654. https://doi.org/10.1086/586708
Balsby TJ, Bradbury JW (2009) Vocal matching by orange-fronted conures (Aratinga canicularis). Behav Process 82(2):133–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2009.05.005
Barclay P (2006) Reputational benefits for altruistic punishment. Evol Hum Behav 27(5):325–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.01.003
Boesch C, Boesch H (1989) Hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees in the Tai National Park. Am J Phys Anthropol 78(4):547–573. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330780410
Bradbury JW (2003) Vocal communication in wild parrots. In: de Waal FBM, Tyack PL (eds) Animal social complexity: intelligence, culture and individualized societies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 293–316
Bradbury JW, Balsby TJS (2016) The functions of vocal learning in parrots. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70(3):293–312. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2068-4
Bremhorst A, Bütler S, Würbel H, Riemer S (2018) Incentive motivation in pet dogs—preference for constant vs varied food rewards. Sci Rep. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28079-5
Brightsmith DJ, Hobson EA, Martinez G (2018) Food availability and breeding season as predictors of geophagy in Amazonian parrots. Ibis 160(1):112–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12515
Bshary R, Grutter AS (2006) Image scoring and cooperation in a cleaner fish mutualism. Nature 441:975. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04755
Carere C, Locurto C (2011) Interaction between animal personality and animal cognition. Curr Zool 57(4):491–498. https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/57.4.491
Chalmeau R, Lardeux K, Brandibas P, Gallo A (1997) Cooperative problem solving by orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Int J Primatol 18(1):23–32. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026337006136
Dearing MD, Foley WJ, McLean S (2005) The influence of plant secondary metabolites on the nutritional ecology of herbivorous terrestrial vertebrates. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 36:169–189
Diamond J, Bond AB (1999) Kea, bird of paradox: the evolution and behavior of a New Zealand parrot. University of California Press, Berkeley
Duguid S, Wyman E, Bullinger AF, Herfurth-Majstorovic K, Tomasello M (2014) Coordination strategies of chimpanzees and human children in a Stag Hunt game. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 281:20141973. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1973
Eldakar OT, Farrell DL, Wilson DS (2007) Selfish punishment: altruism can be maintained by competition among cheaters. J Theor Biol 249(2):198–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.07.024
Freeberg TM (2006) Social complexity can drive vocal complexity: group size influences vocal information in Carolina chickadees. Psychol Sci 17(7):557–561. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01743.x
Hattori Y, Kuroshima H, Fujita K (2005) Cooperative problem solving by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): spontaneous division of labor, communication, and reciprocal altruism. J Comp Psychol 119:335. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7036.119.3.335
Heaney M, Gray RD, Taylor AH (2017) Keas perform similarly to chimpanzees and elephants when solving collaborative tasks. PLoS One 12(2):e0169799. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169799
Heinsohn R, Legge S (1999) The cost of helping. Trends Ecol Evol 14(2):53–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01545-6)
Heinsohn R, Ebert D, Legge S, Peakall R (2007) Genetic evidence for cooperative polyandry in reverse dichromatic Eclectus parrots. Anim Behav 74(4):1047–1054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.01.026
Hirata S, Fuwa K (2007) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) learn to act with other individuals in a cooperative task. Primates 48(1):13–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329006-0022-1
Jaakkola K, Guarino E, Donegan K, King SL (2018) Bottlenose dolphins can understand their partner’s role in a cooperative task. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 285(1887):20180948. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0948
Jelbert SA, Singh PJ, Gray RD, Taylor AH (2015) New Caledonian crows rapidly solve a collaborative problem without cooperative cognition. PLoS One 10:e0133253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133253
Juniper T, Parr M (1998) Parrots: a guide to parrots of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven
Massen JJ, Ritter C, Bugnyar T (2015) Tolerance and reward equity predict cooperation in ravens (Corvus corax). Sci Rep 5:15021. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15021
Melis AP, Tomasello M (2019) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) coordinate by communicating in a collaborative problem-solving task. Proc Biol Sci 286(1901):20190408. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0408
Melis AP, Hare B, Tomasello M (2006a) Chimpanzees recruit the best collaborators. Science 311(5765):1297–1300. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1123007
Melis AP, Hare B, Tomasello M (2006b) Engineering cooperation in chimpanzees: tolerance constraints on cooperation. Anim Behav 72(2):275–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.09.018
Mendres KA, de Waal FB (2000) Capuchins do cooperate: the advantage of an intuitive task. Anim Behav 60:523–529. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2000.1512
Milinski M (1987) TIT FOR TAT in sticklebacks and the evolution of cooperation. Nature 325:433–435. https://doi.org/10.1038/325433a0
Mitani JC (2009) Male chimpanzees form enduring and equitable social bonds. Anim Behav 77(3):633–640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.11.021
Noë R (2006) Cooperation experiments: coordination through communication versus acting apart together. Anim Behav 71:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.03.037
Peron F, Rat-Fischer L, Lalot M, Nagle L, Bovet D (2011) Cooperative problem solving in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Anim Cogn 14(4):545–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0389-2
Ratnieks FL, Wenseleers T (2008) Altruism in insect societies and beyond: voluntary or enforced? Trends Ecol Evol 23(1):45–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2007.09.013
Scheid C, Noe R (2010) The performance of rooks in a cooperative task depends on their temperament. Anim Cogn 13(3):545–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100710090305-1
Schwing R, Jocteur E, Wein A, Noë R, Massen JJ (2016) Kea cooperate better with sharing affiliates. Anim Cogn 19:1093–1102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-1017-y
Seed AM, Jensen K (2011) Animal behaviour: large-scale cooperation. Nature 472(7344):424–425. https://doi.org/10.1038/472424a
Seed AM, Clayton NS, Emery NJ (2008) Cooperative problem solving in rooks (Corvus frugilegus). Proc Biol Sci 275(1641):1421–1429. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0111
Shultz S, Opie C, Atkinson QD (2011) Stepwise evolution of stable sociality in primates. Nature 479(7372):219–222. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10601
Stevens JR, Hauser MD (2004) Why be nice? Psychological constraints on the evolution of cooperation. Trends Cogn Sci 8(2):60–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2003.12.003
Team RC (2013) A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org
Tennie C, Jensen K, Call J (2016) The nature of prosociality in chimpanzees. Nat Commun 7:13915. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13915
Torres Ortiz S, Maxwell A, Krasheninnikova A, Wahlberg M, Larsen ON (2019) Problem solving capabilities of peach-fronted conures (Eupsittula aurea) studied with the string-pulling test. Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x00003539
Walløe S, Thomsen H, Balsby TJ, Dabelsteen TJB (2015) Differences in short-term vocal learning in parrots, a comparative study. Behaviour 152(11):1433–1461. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-00003286
Wilkinson GS (1984) Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat. Nature 308(5955):181–184. https://doi.org/10.1038/308181a0
Acknowledgements
All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. We thank Kasper Fjordside for helping with the setup electronics and Angelica Munteanu for assisting in part of data collection. We are grateful to Simeon Smeele and Morgan Martin for comments to improve the manuscript. This project was funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research ǀ Natural Sciences through grants to Ole Næsbye Larsen (DFF-1323-00105).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Supplementary material 2 (MP4 11399 kb)
Supplementary material 3 (MP4 6157 kb)
Supplementary material 4 (MP4 12792 kb)
Supplementary material 5 (MP4 2975 kb)
Supplementary material 6 (MP4 6924 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Torres Ortiz, S., Corregidor Castro, A., Balsby, T.J.S. et al. Problem-solving in a cooperative task in peach-fronted conures (Eupsittula aurea). Anim Cogn 23, 265–275 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01331-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01331-9