Tool Using Parrot! ______________(youtube.com/cherylrampton)

Poncho, my smart 30 year old double yellow headed amazon parrot, uses one of his feathers to help scratch his head! He was not taught to do this, he figured it out on his own! He will also use other objects besides feathers for the same purpose, like pencils, straws, toys, etc. To see more vids of Poncho check out this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=ED9696FE2A917229 Here is a link to a website about research being done with new caledonian crows and tool use: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/animal_tool.shtml be sure to watch this amazing video of betty the crow taking a straight wire and bending it to make a hook to retrieve a bucket of food: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/movies/bending_trial7.mov read the research on the webpage to fully appreciate the video! Here are some definitions of tool use: Jane Goodall defines tool use as "the use of an external object as a functional extension of mouth or beak, hand or claw, in the attainment of an immediate goal." John Alcock defines tool use as "the manipulation of an inanimate object, not internally manufactured, with the effect of improving the animal's efficiency in altering the form or position of some separate object." Ben Beck defines tool use as "the external employment of an unattached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself when the user holds or carries the tool during or just prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool." Thanks for watching! Cheryl Rampton