A new study reports that parrots who are strangers to each other “test the waters” by forming new relationships through a series of increasingly friendly interactions.
A new study reports that parrots who are strangers to each other “test the waters” by forming new relationships through a series of increasingly friendly interactions that are much like developing friendships in humans.
Parrots are highly social beings, so it may come as a surprise to learn that it takes them a little time to actually befriend each other. To understand how they develop social relationships, a team of researchers studied and documented the process that parrots who are strangers to each other followed to make new friends. “It can be really difficult to study how animals form new relationships and we don’t know how this process works for a lot of social animals,” said the study’s lead author, behavioral ecologist Claire O’Connell, who was a doctoral student at the“Generally, maintaining these strong social bonds is associated with decreased stress and higher reproductive success,” Dr O’Connell told me in email.“This research would not have been possible without the help and hard work of my collaborators Dr. Gerry Carter, Dr. Annemarie van der Marel, and my PhD advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Hobson,” Dr O’Connell told me in email., also known as Quaker parrots. This species is a medium-sized bright-green parrot with a pale greyish breast, forehead and underparts, an orange beak, dark eyes, grey feet and a long, pointed green tail. Domesticated monk parakeets sometimes have white, blue, or yellow coloring replacing their typical “wild type” green plumage. Such unusual coloring makes them more vulnerable to predators. These gregarious parrots originated in subtropical habitats of South America, where they are common and widespread. They are known to be agricultural pests, and are recognized as invasive species in many parts of the world, where they have been introduced into large cities throughout North and South America, in Europe and in Southeast Asia, and even in Northern Africa. Monk parakeets are one of the few parrot species that construct their own nests – which can grow into large colonial structures, comprising separate “apartments” with individual entrances, that can rival the size of an automobile. These nests, made of sticks, can break entire trees under their weight or become fire hazards when constructed on power poles. A wild trio of monk parrots at Parque por la Paz, Villa Grimaldi, Santiago, Chile. “Monk parakeets are very social,” Dr O’Connell told me in email. “They often form affiliative, or friendly, relationships with one or two other birds but they also fightdon’t worry though, the aggression is usually mild! The birds need to make decisions about who they are going to form relationships with and when and that process could have important consequences for their survival and reproduction.” To understand the process for how these parrots form social relationships, Dr O’Connell and collaborators started by placing groups of wild-caught feral parakeets into a large flight. Some of these birds were strangers to each other. Dr O’Connell and collaborators then watched the parrots and documented when and how new relationships formed by studying how close the birds approached each other over time and which birds groomed each other or engaged in other friendly behaviors. “Capturing the first moments between strangers can be challenging, so we were really excited that our experiments gave us the chance to observe that process up close,” Dr O’Connell said. Then Dr O’Connell and collaborators analyzed more than 179 relationships using computational methods and statistical models to determine whether relationship formation followed the pattern predicted by previous studies exploring their idea that the birds were “testing the waters”. Figure 1. A conceptual diagram of relative risk and investment of behaviours and predicted sequences. The perceptions of relative risk and investment of behaviours with colour indicating the category of behaviour as low, moderate or high. The predicted sequence under Testing the Waters: the generalized sequence, which includes dyads that were observed using a low behaviour before any type of moderate or high behaviours and the precise sequence that includes dyads that were observed using low behaviour before moderate then high, or moderate and high simultaneously .Dr O’Connell and collaborators found that parrots who started out as strangers were more likely to approach each other with caution compared to birds they knew. Dr O’Connell reported that birds who don’t welcome a newcomer's attention can react aggressively, which can lead to injuries. “We often observe what we call ‘quarreling,’ which may occur if a bird’s attempt to groom another bird’s feathers is not well received,” Dr O’Connell said. “Quarreling is a mild type of aggression, and it may deter the bird from trying to groom them.” To avoid injuries from misunderstandings, these “stranger birds” took time to share space before eventually perching shoulder to shoulder, touching beaks or preening others. Some strangers escalated their companionable relationships further to sharing food or mating. “There can be a lot of benefits to being social, but these friendships have to start somewhere,” Dr O’Connell remarked. “Many parrots, for example, form strong bonds with one or two other birds,” Dr O’Connell said. “Partners often spend most of their time together, preen each other or sometimes form reproductive relationships.” Do other species also “test the waters” like these study parrots did? A 2020 study by the study’s co-author, behavioral ecologist Gerald Carter, an Associate Professor atwho studies social networks in bats, told me in email that newcomer vampire bats likewise test the waters, gradually escalating their interactions from social grooming to food-sharing relationships with trustworthy partners .
Social Behavior Friendship Parrots Ornithology Grrlscientist Social Networks Behavioral Ecology Myiopsitta Monachus Quaker Parrots
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