Feathered friends: Study shows "selfless" parrots helping peers

Which section from the article BEST explains Brucks' idea about why African grey parrots might help each other?

• "Feathered Apes"

• "Helpful Behavior Cropped Up Over Course Of Evolution"

• "African Grey Parrots Help Peers To Achieve Their Task"

• "Blue-Headed Macaws Less Eager To Share"

Read the following claim:

African grey parrots help their peers complete tasks, even if the tasks provide no immediate benefit to themselves.

Which selection from the article provides the BEST support for the statement above?

• While other friendly behaviors have been seen in birds, the research team said helping peers to achieve a goal has only previously been shown, apart from humans, in orangutans and bonobos.

• "Parrots and corvids, crows and ravens, are really known for being the brightest birds around. They are often referred to as 'feathered apes' and they have been tested in many studies on problem-solving or word learning," she said.

• The team found African grey parrots helped their neighbors by passing tokens to their neighbor when a human held out their hand. This action allowed the second bird to drop a token through the hole and receive a treat.

• Far fewer tokens were passed between birds when there was no human signal and no hole for them to exchange the token. This suggests the parrots did not simply pass tokens for fun.

Which two of the following sentences from the article contain central ideas of the article?

1. The team said their findings suggest the helpful behavior cropped up multiple times over the course of evolution.

2. Similar social and ecological pressures on mammals and birds could lead to the development of similar behaviors, said Brucks.

3. However, the team stressed the birds did not know at the start that their favor would be returned.

4. They might have more defined leaders and a lower emphasis on sharing resources.

• 1 and 3

• 1 and 4

• 2 and 3

• 2 and 4

Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?

• The selfless behavior observed in African grey parrots is not exhibited in all birds, or even all parrots.

• Orangutans and bonobos are two types of apes who also have observable friendly behaviors.

• In total, the experiment included eight African grey parrots and six blue-headed macaws.

• Birds typically learn selfless behaviors from working together to hunt for food.

Read the following text:

"It has been thought that it is so cognitively demanding that only humans can show it." However, "we now get more and more evidence from other animals that they are able to show reciprocity," she said.

What is the meaning of reciprocity?

• returning the favor

• taking it for yourself

• refusal to help

• causing turmoil

Researchers found that African grey parrots help their peers complete tasks. It was the first study to show that birds display such apparently "selfless" behavior. What is an example of selfless behavior?

• helping a stranger with a task

• going to your friend's house

• cooking your own dinner

• going to the movie with a friend

Ravens and blue headed macaws are rather selfish birds.

• True

• False

Why does the author include the picture of the African grey parrot?

• It was the obvious choice.

• It was the friendliest bird in the species.

• It was the prettiest bird in the species.

• It was the first study that showed selfless bird behavior.