We talk about whether parrots understand what they are saying and what curiosities their skills can lead to.
The first “talking” parrot was recorded in the 70s of the XIX century in the German city of Stuttgart. It could pronounce ten words. However, there is evidence that the amazing abilities of these birds were noted even before our era. For example, in ancient Rome, “talking” parrots were valued more than a good slave.
Birds are the only class that can imitate human speech. This is primarily due to their complex communication system. Thus, birds sing not for our pleasure, but for the sake of exchanging information. (Earlier, Mandry told why roosters crow in the morning).
However, not all of them can reproduce and modify different sounds. To do this, you need to have a good resonator. In humans, the main resonators are the larynx, oral and nasal cavities, and trachea. Previously, scientists assumed that the vocal apparatuses of birds and humans were arranged in the same way, but studies have shown that birds, unlike humans, have two larynxes: an upper one, like mammals, and a lower one. And the main role in the formation of sounds is played by the lower one, which is much more complicated and is found only in birds. The peculiarity of its structure is that it has not one, but two or more vibrators that work independently of each other. Thus, the bird’s vocal apparatus is a small orchestra. However, the structure of the lower, “singing” larynx is so complex and varies so much between different species of birds that researchers still do not have a consensus on the mechanisms of its operation.
However, the complex structure of the larynx alone does not explain the ability of parrots to imitate human speech. Therefore, neuroscientists Erich Jarvis and Dr. Mukta Chakraborty conducted experiments on the brain matter of three groups of birds: songbirds, hummingbirds, and parrots. In all of them, they found a “song” center, a special group of neurons responsible for learning and vocalization. Continuing his research, Jarvis compared the brains of eight parrot species and found that their song center consists of two parts, where the simpler one is embedded in the more complex one. This distinguished them from other birds.
Despite the fact that parrots have the most advanced vocal learning ability, they were long considered unintelligent birds for their mindless repetition of sounds. But at the end of the 20th century, psychologist and doctoral candidate Irene Pepperberg and her gray African parrot Alex, bought in a regular pet store, amazed everyone with their experiment. Alex proved that he knows about 150 English words and can recognize objects. Moreover, Dr. Pepperberg was able to teach him to read a few letters! And one of the bird’s greatest achievements was his understanding of zero, which no one had taught him at all.
Alex is no longer alive, but he has many followers who continue to change people’s perceptions of animals and their capabilities. For example, in 2017, in London, five-year-old Jaco Buddy activated Alexa, a voice assistant that helps customers make purchases on Amazon.com, and ordered a gift wrapping kit. Corinne Pretorius, Buddy’s owner, caught the pet only when it turned out that none of her family members had placed the order. Later, the parrot’s “conversation” with the speaker showed that after the bird repeated the word “Alexa” several times, the device turned on and asked: “What do you want to buy?” The parrot made an order and was also able to confirm it by saying “Yes” at the right time: “Yes”. A year later, the same voice assistant helped another feathered chatterbox, Rocco, an African gray parrot, order his favorite treats online: watermelon, raisins, broccoli, and ice cream, as well as a light bulb and a paper kite. The owner, Marion Wisniewski, was shocked by what happened: “I checked the shopping list and canceled all of Rocco’s orders.” And the Ara parrot, named Jesse, once told the rescuers who came to take him off the roof to hell.
There are also talking parrots in the Kyiv Zoo. For example, Archie, a young blue-and-yellow Ara, is constantly asking everyone questions: “What is it?” and “Where does this go?”. Thus, although there is no evidence of logical thinking in parrots, we can say for sure that they are excellent learners and their capabilities have not yet been fully explored.
