Rado Seminar - Julia Penndorf: PhD update talk

Parrots represent an intriguing group in which to test hypotheses about social cognition because they share many life-history traits with taxa traditionally considered to display complex social cognition, such as primates. Both groups have similar relative brain volumes, are long-lived, have extended developmental periods, live in seemingly complex social groups and show evidence for advanced cognition. However, if comparisons between both groups are hampered because detailed information regarding cognitive ecology and social structure is largely lacking for parrot species. In my thesis, I aim to describe the social ecology of my study species, the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), and explore what the latter can tell us about the species social cognition.