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Parrots observed using tools to harvest calcium
Reported on Sci-News.com [sci-news.com]
A team of researchers from the United Kingdom has uncovered the first evidence of tool use by greater vasa parrots. Studying 10 captive vasa parrots, the scientists observed the birds adopt a novel tool-using technique to acquire calcium from seashells:
Several members of a captive population spontaneously adopted a novel tool-using technique by using pebbles and date pits either (i) to scrape on the inner surface of seashells, subsequently licking the resulting calcium powder from the tool, or (ii) as a wedge to break off smaller pieces of the shell for ingestion
The bird's interest in the shells was greatest from March to mid-April, just before the breeding season. While this may be due to calcium supplementation being critical for egg-laying, the odd part was that it was the males that used the tools to harvest calcium, and then regurgitated the calcium to the females.
