phoenix44 Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/4623726 ... be-lefties Parrots, like humans, choose to use one side of their body more than the other, with more of them left handed - or, more precisely, left footed than anything else. Some species even try out both before deciding on one side. Australian researchers found that virtually all the parrots they studied prefer to use either their left eye and left foot, or right eye and right foot. "Basically, you get this very close relationship with the eye that they use to view the object and then the hand that they use to grasp it, and it's very consistent across all the species except a couple," said Calum Brown, a senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, who led the study. "In some species, they're so strongly right or left handed at the species level that there's effectively no variation." In the study, published in "Biological Letters," Brown and his colleagues studied roughly 320 parrots from 16 different Australian species to see which eye they used to view potential foods. Ultimately, they found that roughly 47 percent were left handed, 33 percent right handed, and the remainder ambidextrous. In addition, in some cases young birds appeared to experiment with both sides before finally settling on one. "With Sulphur-crested cockatoos -- every single individual we've seen is left-handed. But when you see the juveniles which have just fledged, they're experimenting with both hands, all the time," Brown said. "They eventually settle on using their left hands." The idea of handedness in humans is tied to the use of one hemisphere of the brain over another, known as "lateralization." In the case of the parrots, this appeared to be an advantage regardless of whether the left or the right side dominated. "It's quite obvious that in terms of direct foraging, as well as more complicated problem-solving situations, that if you're very strongly lateralised, irrespective of whether you're right or left handed, you tend to be better at this sort of task," Brown said. He added that lateralisation allowed much more efficiency, the way a computer with two processors can do two things simultaneously and effectively multi-task. "We think that's possibly what's going on with parrots," he said. I'll be watching Rusty closely over the next few days and see what my little silly bird does. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 interesting, i'll watch what harvey birdman does over the next few days too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 i will watch mine too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze-dragon Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 i will watch mine too You must have a lot of eyes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I just gave him 3 different things, and asked for them back. He took them all with his mouth and held it with his left foot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Lol.... I've been watching Porkchop closely tonight too, to see if I can notice any preference... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Harvey birdman and Porkchop. Do you guys care to explain? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 You must have a lot of eyes! yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Harvey birdman and Porkchop. Do you guys care to explain? :lol: Lol...... mines a lovebird, I didn't really name them as a pair, but when his mate died for some reason I started calling him a little porkchop..... I don't know why..... but I figure that must be his name lol :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 taught one of the cockys to shake hands he always offers me the left one first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Harvey birdman and Porkchop. Do you guys care to explain? :lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02u2JCayKeY Best. Cartoon. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Pepper was left footed too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I got mixed up and read it as "all lefties are parrots" and was surprised to see a thread about politics here.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I got mixed up and read it as "all lefties are parrots" and was surprised to see a thread about politics here.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Watching too much The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, eh? http://grimadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Lil%27l_Porkchop My kids love that program, and one of our cats is called Mandy because of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 So it turns out Harvey is a righty. I'm getting the feeling he's a she too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.