We are true masters at imitating our fellow human beings – this often happens unconsciously. For example, we tend to adopt the same posture as the person we are talking to during conversations. But apparently we are far from the only animals with this peculiarity. As biologists have discovered, the critically endangered blue-throated macaws also tend to mirror each other. This could indicate a human-like peculiarity in their brain.
Just like many other intelligent species, we humans can learn through observation. If we watch grandma kneading cookie dough or grandpa chopping wood, the technology will eventually become second nature to us. But in addition to such conscious imitations, we humans are also very good at unconsciously imitating each other. As part of this involuntary imitation, we sometimes adopt the same posture as the person we are talking to, for example. But are only we humans actually capable of this?
Raise your leg!
To find out whether animals also involuntarily imitate their own kind, researchers led by Esha Haldar from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence carried out a behavioral experiment with blue-throated macaws (Ara glaucogularis). To do this, they first taught the intelligent parrot birds to either lift their leg or spread a wing in response to certain hand signals. Haldar and her colleagues then divided the animals into two groups. In the so-called compatible group, macaws were rewarded for imitating the raising of legs or wings of a member of their species. In the incompatible group, there was only a reward if they performed the opposite action. The team wanted to test how deeply the imitation of other species is anchored in the macaws’ brains.
The result: Blue-throated Macaws also seem capable of involuntary imitation, as Hadar and her colleagues have discovered. While the animals in the compatible group had no problems getting their reward, the incompatible group encountered several obstacles. She made mistakes significantly more often and took longer overall to decide on wing or leg lifts. According to the researchers, this suggests that the macaws have a natural urge to imitate and find it difficult to suppress. This makes blue-throated macaws the first non-human animal in which this ability has ever been demonstrated. “The results are remarkable,” says Haldar.
Ability could facilitate releases into the wild
But if macaws behave similarly to humans, could that mean that a similar mechanism in their brain is responsible for automatic imitation? “In humans, this behavior is controlled by neural circuits involving mirror neurons. These are active both when observing and during the execution of the action. Although our study does not prove that mirror neurons exist in parrots, it does strongly suggest their involvement in motor imitation,” explains Haldar.
It is still unclear why macaws are capable of involuntary imitation. However, the team suspects that it supports the cultural transmission of group-specific behaviors. This would also be of great interest for the release of animals of this highly endangered species into the wild. Because it implies that the blue-throated macaws could learn natural behaviors from wild counterparts and thus adapt more quickly to their natural environment.
Source: Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence; Specialist article: iScience, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111514