Science Fair On Parrot Intelligence...

[ConureCrazy]

Well... I'm entering the science fair. I really wanted to do something parrot related for it. Well, my little brother, he's just turned 2... I wanted to do something testing Bella and Zora's intelligence over his. Like, is a parrot smarter than your average 2 year old? Of course nothing is going to hurt him or the fids. They'll be completely seperate. I was thinking of doing 3 or 5 tests. It has to be an odd number. Not 1... Like, I could take three cups (maybe 4) each a different color, switch them once or twice and see if they could find the treat underneath... That's one. Do you guys have two more? I really like this idea.. If you don't like it, then do you have any better ideas? The due date for a project is Dec. 7. Thank you all.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Am I shunned? What if I shook the boxes? Then, the absence of sound will tell them it's in the other box...

 

[Riio]

Hhhmmm let me think about this and get back to you. good idea though!

 

[ConureCrazy]

Re: Science Fair On Parrot Intelligence...uhxz

Hhhmmm let me think about this and get back to you. good idea though!

Thanks. my science teacher says .ir will probably get me to state.! I'm so excited!

 

[BoomBoom]

I'm afraid I don't have any ideas to share, but I'm interested in the results of the test!

How much time do you have? The thing with tests like this is that it's very involved, time consuming and has to be in a controlled environment. I heard of this hast devoting her entire career and the parrot's entire lifespan to a test similar to this.

I commend you on this ambitious undertaking regardless!!! I think it's a grand idea

 

[Birdlover11]

It's cool that you want to do a parrot intelligence thing, my science fair is in march so I have plenty of time lol. I want to do somthing parrot related. Maybe you could do somthing on parrot memory ? Or what you could do is put out 5 cups, put a peanut in one of them for the birds then mix them up in front of the birds. Then do the same thing for the baby. Which one will find it sooner ?

 

[WharfRat]

Last year when my boy was in 4th grade we did one using the birds

It was a "What do Parrots prefer, bird or people food?"

People food won LOL

here's one of the pics we used

 

[truste]

Cool idea!

What about...testing how long it takes for each to understand that a specific cue leads to food! For instance, choose a cue such as a distinct sound (ringing a bell, snapping your fingers, a clap, etc), and then play the sound followed immediately by giving a treat. Do this many times & see how long it takes for each to realize that hearing the cue means food is coming. Look for excitement upon hearing a cue--perking up, coming towards you, looking around for the treat, etc.

It would be cool if you could structure your three experiments around memory, cognition, and problem solving. So the test you mentioned could be a memory test, the one I suggested can be cognition (maybe? I'm not sure), and you could try to develop a test of their problem solving skills. I'll see if I can think of something. Good luck!

 

[ConureCrazy]

Oh, the actual project idea is due on Dec 7th. The actual project is due on January 30th..
WharfRat that's so cool! And duh, parrots will always prefer human food! lolol! My teacher said could take 5 pictures. 1 pic would be of a GCC, the others would be insignificant items. And with my brother, 1 would be of a baby, and the others of random objects. See which one picks out themselves? Is that too easy? I love science fair.. lol

 

[ConureCrazy]

Cool idea!

What about...testing how long it takes for each to understand that a specific cue leads to food! For instance, choose a cue such as a distinct sound (ringing a bell, snapping your fingers, a clap, etc), and then play the sound followed immediately by giving a treat. Do this many times & see how long it takes for each to realize that hearing the cue means food is coming. Look for excitement upon hearing a cue--perking up, coming towards you, looking around for the treat, etc.

It would be cool if you could structure your three experiments around memory, cognition, and problem solving. So the test you mentioned could be a memory test, the one I suggested can be cognition (maybe? I'm not sure), and you could try to develop a test of their problem solving skills. I'll see if I can think of something. Good luck!

I think thats a really good idea... Putting it down on my list! I will converse it with my teacher, pick some out, reason others, etc... This is so fun. :22:
My brother and the fids will be separate, and I am planning it really well. I for sure will tell you the results!

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Here's an idea: give bird a mirror that is not wobbly or moving. see if he'll start pecking and knocking it with his beak like doing a morse code. Mine does it and so do some others on the forum. Then tap back with a pen from the back side of the mirror. Watch how long the bird will "communicate" this way with the mystery bird living inside the mirror, which is really his own reflection. Then you could try that with your brother and see if their behavior is about the same or different, who loses and never has any interest, maybe your brother will knock on it and wait for the knock back from other side, etc.

 

[mcw009]

A common test of dog intelligence is to drape a sheet over the animal and see how long it takes it to get out from underneath.

I'm not sure I'd go with Pavlovian conditioning though... even goldfish pick up those kind of cues really fast! You'd also want to be careful about quantifying your data there. Is the parrot (or the baby) reacting because they've learned the sound means food, or are they startled/just interested in a new sound?

 

[ConureCrazy]

Here's an idea: give bird a mirror that is not wobbly or moving. see if he'll start pecking and knocking it with his beak like doing a morse code. Mine does it and so do some others on the forum. Then tap back with a pen from the back side of the mirror. Watch how long the bird will "communicate" this way with the mystery bird living inside the mirror, which is really his own reflection. Then you could try that with your brother and see if their behavior is about the same or different, who loses and never has any interest, maybe your brother will knock on it and wait for the knock back from other side, etc.

Aw that's a good idea! Gosh picking 3 tests is going to be so hard... maybe I'll do 5...:54:

 

[truste]

A common test of dog intelligence is to drape a sheet over the animal and see how long it takes it to get out from underneath.

I'm not sure I'd go with Pavlovian conditioning though... even goldfish pick up those kind of cues really fast! You'd also want to be careful about quantifying your data there. Is the parrot (or the baby) reacting because they've learned the sound means food, or are they startled/just interested in a new sound?

The sheet's a good idea, but you might want to make sure the subject actually wants to be out of the sheet. My bird actually likes to be under things--it's how she sleeps, so throw a sheet over her and she'll just sit for a whole before trying to come out, so make sure you measure from the point at which they start trying to come out.

As far as the cue and goldfish being able to pick it up--maybe after the first test move on to a more subtle cue? Like instead of a loud clap, maybe gently cough? My conure gets excited when I come into the room with my mug because I've let her drink apple cider out of there before, so maybe you could give treats out of a cup and see how long it takes for them to get excited when they see the cup?

I think that you would be able to tell the difference between simple reaction to the sound and a reaction that shows eagerness snd excitement because they've understood the sound is associated with a sound. A bird going "what's that?" acts differently than a bird going "where's my treat?" or "I like that sound because it means food!" Many people who've clicker trained their bird will tell you they could tell when the bird started to understand. I'm not sure about babies, though. Haha

 

[ConureCrazy]

I don't know about the sheet. Bella and Zora will freak. They got their first wing trim in a towel and they now have a phobia of blankets/towels. And so will my brother... If they weren't afraid I'd probably do the test.

Can you clicker train a baby?! LOL and yes I do know the difference I think... Especially the difference in my brother. He'd jump up and clap and go all happy if he knew something yummy was coming his way.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

(typing on mobile so pls excuse abbr etc)
here's another idea. got pritti one of those little plstic cat balls that dingle when rolling. outside is made of plastic 'grid' like a screen. so i rolled it to him and he pushed it around curiously. but later he wasnt playing with it so i took his favorite foot toy, a rubber wobbly ball, and i rolled it in to cat ball ant it dingled. he just gave me that 'what just happened look'. so i did it again a few times. he watched.when i finally gave him the wobbly ball' he wildly grabbed it with beak and flung it at the cat ball and made it dingle. ea time i gave him the rubbery ball' he tried to fling it specifically at the cat bal to make it ding. this could be an experiment about inference or cause/effect.. do this and that happens.

 

[ConureCrazy]

(typing on mobile so pls excuse abbr etc)
here's another idea. got pritti one of those little plstic cat balls that dingle when rolling. outside is made of plastic 'grid' like a screen. so i rolled it to him and he pushed it around curiously. but later he wasnt playing with it so i took his favorite foot toy, a rubber wobbly ball, and i rolled it in to cat ball ant it dingled. he just gave me that 'what just happened look'. so i did it again a few times. he watched.when i finally gave him the wobbly ball' he wildly grabbed it with beak and flung it at the cat ball and made it dingle. ea time i gave him the rubbery ball' he tried to fling it specifically at the cat bal to make it ding. this could be an experiment about inference or cause/effect.. do this and that happens.

Oooh.... I have cat toys. I can totally do that Can you please explain what the rubber wobbly ball is? Is it like those rubber bounce balls?

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

ConureCrazy -- here are two photos. One of them makes the ball look a lot bigger than it is, the other gives a more realistic view of size in reference to Pritti (he is about 14" long), so the ball is about 1.25". (don't be spooked by Pritti's eyes - for some reason my phone does that to him a lot - he doesn't have cataracts, isn't posessed or anything like that -- just saw a-vet last week). I bought on internet, but have seen them in stores for about $1. The "cat ball" is about the same size.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Oh, ok! Thank you. I'm going to the Dollar Tree today for more chinese finger traps p yes that's why) so I'll pick one up if I need it.