Kea have a reputation for being intelligent, but a new study gives a glimpse of just how smart they are, being compared to chimpanzees and elephants in collaborative problem solving.

The native bird has even shown similar behaviours to human children, according to a new Auckland University study just published in the PLOS One journal.

Researchers spent months at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch training the birds to use the intelligence tests and it turned up some interesting results.

"We gave kea a similar problem to one that's been given to a number of different animal species including chimpanzees and elephants which tries to understand whether animals can work together, and if they can…whether they understand anything about how cooperation works," co-author Dr Alex Taylor told Newshub.

The birds were released into an apparatus in which they were separated by wire mesh with a board outside the area with a piece of food on each side.