Do parrots sometimes set examples to other parrots?

[Mrspy]

Hi there, i'm wondering if i were to have 2 birds in my home and one of them did something, if the other one would start to pick it up. Like ok here: Peeps hates lying on his back, he's EXTREMELY uncomfortable with it and no matter how long i trained he would flip back on his feet when i let go of him. And then my future green cheek loved rolling on his back..........do you think Peeps would start to do it?

 

[cnyguy]

Parrots can and do learn from each other-- but I'm unsure about the lying-on-the-back thing, since you say Peeps is so uncomfortable with doing it. Peeps could see that the Conure has no problem with lying on his back, and decide to give it a try-- or he may always be uncomfortable with it.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Actually this is often on of the most effective ways to train parrots. You can read up on Irene Pepperberg's Model Rival method.

But the key is, if you want Peeps to lay on his back, he needs to see the GCC get attention or something good for rolling on his back rather than just seeing the GCC roll. That's the key difference (in a very small nutshell) between Model-Rival training and "monkey see monkey do".

 

[Birdamor]

It also has to do with species. Conures eat on their backs when babies but most other species don't so while conures feel very comfortable doing it, other species would freak out big time if you put them in that position. It would make them too vulnerable. Some individuals can learn to do things that are not bird common sense and that has to do with trust and nothing else - I have a female senegal who lays on her back and would stand on her head if I asked her to but her mate would rip my hand apart if I tried to make him do it.