@AlexhTaylor profile picture
Alex Taylor @AlexhTaylor

ICREA Research Professor

Joined May 2011
  • Tweets 138
  • Following 276
  • Followers 562
16 Photos and videos
Alex Taylor retweeted
Animal Minds Lab@AnimalMindsLab
24 Jul 2025
🚨We're recruiting!🚨 Join our lab in Barcelona as a PhD student or postdoc. We study automated decision-making in rats 🐀 and run online human experiments with a comparative & cognitive science focus. Get in touch if you're interested! Links below. #Postdoc #PhDJobs #PostdocJobs
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Offering two postdoc positions in my lab: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/3… euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/3…

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Three full funded PhD positions are available in my lab, which is moving to UAB in Barcelona euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/3…
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Is signature testing a better way to compare human, animal and machine minds? Check out our new paper authors.elsevier.com/c/1fJm7…
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Our new paper on a disabled parrot using tools to preen has led to suggestions of printing him a 3D prosthetic beak. How do you ask a parrot if he would be happier with no beak and no vet trips, or a new beak, lots of vet trips, and the other kea playing with his shiny new beak?
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Our new paper out today on a disabled kea innovating stone tool use to preen, great article by the New York Times on it. nytimes.com/2021/09/10/scien… Paper: nature.com/articles/s41598-0… Video: youtu.be/BbARqC8g2xQ

Bruce Is a Parrot With a Broken Beak. So He Invented a Tool. (Published 2021)

The bird is a kea from New Zealand, and his fabrication of an instrument to help him preen his feathers appears to be unique, researchers say.

nytimes.com
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Alex Taylor retweeted
Dakota McCoy, Ph.D.@WildlifeMcCoy
1 Aug 2019
Tool use puts New Caledonian crows in a good mood! I'm so excited to have a new paper out in @CurrentBiology with coauthors from @AnimalMindsUoA: intrinsic enjoyment, not just material reward, motivates tool use in clever crows. cell.com/current-biology/ful… Some takeaways: (1/3)
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Alex Taylor retweeted
Quentin Atkinson@DrQueue
2 Jul 2019
Join the call for the NZ government to declare a climate emergency - stuff.co.nz/environment/clim…. Add your name here - claxon.nz/

Climate emergency not off the table

PM says climate change is "a matter of urgency" and she's not opposed to declaring a national emergency.

stuff.co.nz
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Now here's something to crow about: new research by Dr Alex Taylor @AlexhTaylor from @PsychUoA @AnimalMindsUoA shows that, similar to a human playing chess, New Caledonian crows can use tools to plan up to 3 moves ahead. Read more on @NatGeo... #ScienceUoA ow.ly/E05g30nCGnl
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So we have an exciting paper out today show NC crows plan 3 behaviours into the future. Vid here youtube.com/watch?v=k0Wxww9r…. More info here nationalgeographic.com/anima…

New Caledonian Crows Mentally Represent Metatool Problems

One of the mysteries of animal problem solving is the extent to whi...

youtube.com
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Talking about bird intelligence @aspeninstitute with Jennifer Ackerman and Flora Lichtman flichtman #aspenideas #geniusofbirds instagram.com/p/BkpuKRWg3yo/…
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So I am super happy that after 3 years of hard work our new paper showing NC crows can reverse engineer a tool from a mental image is out. For a nice summary have a read of this. nytimes.com/2018/06/28/scien… Full paper here rdcu.be/149P

Can Crows Make Mental Pictures of Tools? (Published 2018)

New Caledonian crows were trained to seek rewards by tearing paper of a certain size, demonstrating what researchers say is quite advanced toolmaking.

nytimes.com
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Great feature by @AlisonBallance on some of the research we are running at our dog lab radionz.co.nz/national/progr…
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Our new dog lab is now ready, if you are and interested in learning more about your dog's intelligence click here clevercaninelab.auckland.ac.…

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Alex Taylor retweeted
Michelle Dickinson PhD
@medickinson
19 Mar 2017
Are humans really the smartest animals? Find out when I ask @JeremyCorbett & @AlexhTaylor in episode 1 @sqfspodcast itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/…

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Alex Taylor retweeted
Faculty of Science, University of Auckland@ScienceUoA
16 Mar 2017
Cheeky kea keen to team up on tasks: @AlexhTaylor from Psychology reveals the intelligence of our alpine parrot... ow.ly/fth9309X2nE
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Nice piece in the NZ Herald on our new kea papers nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic…

What makes our cheeky kea tick?

Our alpine parrot may be much smarter than we think, scientists say.

nzherald.co.nz
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Our first paper on keas, such amazing birds! journals.plos.org/plosone/ar…

Keas Perform Similarly to Chimpanzees and Elephants when Solving Collaborative Tasks

Cooperation between individuals is one of the defining features of our species. While other animals, such as chimpanzees, elephants, coral trout and rooks also exhibit cooperative behaviours, it is...

journals.plos.org
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Prenez la bonne décision lundi @michelsapin. Concluez à un accord sur la #TTF pour la solidarité internationale e-activist.com/ea-campaign/a…
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