Humans and some other mammals stand out among animals by showing kindness and helping other individuals in need. But do birds also demonstrate selflessness? The answer is "yes" — at least in the case of the African gray parrot.

Altruism — the act of offering help to someone in need even if it does not benefit you — is a quality on which humans have prided themselves through the ages.

However, we are not the only ones in the animal kingdom who can demonstrate selflessness. Other mammals — including wolves, bonobos, and humpback whales — are also adept at helping other members of their species when they are called upon to do so.

Now, Désirée Brucks and Auguste von Bayern from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany, have carried out research that suggests that individuals from one parrot species also demonstrate the ability to be selfless.

The findings — which appear in Current Biology — place the African gray parrot in the limelight.

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