What Do Parrots Think They’re Saying?

You ever see a parrot mimicking humans words, and wonder if they really get what they're talking about? They're smarter than they look - there's a lot of meaning in every squawk and chirp that parrots make. Not bad for a bird brain.
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[@romarobbins270]

I had a friend who’s parrot would say, “Just a minute,” when someone knocked on the door. One day she came home to find the mail carrier standing on her porch, all angry and red faced. When she asked him what was wrong, he told her he had been standing out there for 10 minutes waiting to get a signature because every time he knocked someone in the house would yell, “Just a minute.” She told him that no one was home, and that was her parrot, and he didn’t believe it until she took him inside and showed him. Then he thought it was funny, and would always knock whenever he delivered the mail just to hear the bird.

[@Broockle]

@@drstone3418 so what parrots do can be called "Talking". I think so too. Just the complexity of the sentences and the meaning conveyed has limits. Not hard limits, I do think they can make more and more complex sentences given enough training. But you get less and less returns on your time I think.

[@SuperFilmregisseur]

Hahhahahahahahahahahahajahahaja

[@justahugenerd1278]

Mailman's a real one for finding it funny after all that

[@Sarahmoluccan]

We have a similar story in our family of a great Aunt who owned a parrot. The parrot often call out to milkman how many bottles of milk they wanted. Then later my aunt would get into an argument with milkman because he was delivering way too much milk. When they realized it was the parrot ordering they agree he would only take orders from her face to face 😄🦜

[@Broockle]

@@Sarahmoluccan An actual witness of milk delivery. wohw 😆

[@The_Blazement]

If you've ever heard a raven speak, they sound so human that it's almost scary, they don't really have that "squawky" tone to their speech like other birds do

[@obsiangravel]

Yeah, instead they sound like chainsmokers XD

[@lightfurya2087]

Starlings can talk too.

[@ssokolow]

@@lightfurya2087 I remember reading that pretty much all species of birds are physiologically capable of speech and it's just a question of whether or not there's anything in a given species's instincts about mimicry.

[@The_KingDoge]

​@ssokolow not all - different species have different ranges. Some attempt to, but can't properly form the sounds

[@GhostsOfThings]

there was a crow in my neighbourhood growing up who would say "hello" clear as anything!

[@lycadius8470]

I'm a certified avian specialist, I've worked with parrots for a very long time. Most definitely lean towards mimicracy with no deeper meaning to their words. But some species have much higher capabilities of reasoning. For example; an African grey i worked with, steely, would say "want banana." Well, if I had no bananas and brought her an apple, she would throw it at me and say "no apple, want banana." And if I went to the store to actually get her highness a banana, she'd say "thank you yum!" African greys such as her, hyacinth macaws, indian ringnecks, and caiques were definitely the smartest of the species I worked with.

[@raptor909]

Can it be said that language is the most complicated calls system? What I'm thinking is: less intelligent species have calls with less complicated concepts (food, danger), more intelligent ones understand more concepts (danger is there) and start combining calls. So language could be defined as "a complicated combination of micro-calls" so the only real difference is the level of complexity? Or is it just baseless speculation?

[@kevkevpurple]

Most real KZbin comment

[@Devin_Stromgren]

I met a guy once who's macaw did the same thing with cereal. He would request a specific cereal, usually cheerios, and get mad if you gave him something else.

[@Onychoprion27]

You don’t call apples “banerry”? Smh

[@puddlespuddles5208]

I own an Indian Ringneck and I can confirm this. Really smart souls.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

You can tell if a mimicking bird is starting to understand words when it starts minimizing. My dad trained his Mynas bird the local equivalent of "Polly wants a cracker", and over time he started removing words to figure out which one meant food. In the end he figured out that he only needed to repeat the "cracker" bit. What is more impressive, however, is that he also figured out his name through the same process and started putting it in front of phrases on his own. The problem, of course, is that he still doesn't know what the phrases mean. Usually he would just say things like "Beobeo say papa" or "Beobeo Caesar Caesar (the dog's name)", but there are also times when he would suddenly sing out "Beobeo bloodshed!" That's because dad taught him to sing the national anthem which includes the phrase "...land where my blood is shed..." and Beobeo somehow minimized it at the exact right place.

[@mehere8038]

I accidentally taught my parrots that my name is "me" via saying things like "give me a kiss" etc, living alone they didn't hear my actual name until I tried it one day while trying to teach them to give each other kisses & realised they had NO IDEA what my name was, but thought it was "me"

[@bluegum6438]

@@mehere8038 We're so innately wired for language that it's easy to forget what a brain-bender it must be even for the smartest of birds with their own pseudo-language communication. The concept of a word that changes its target based on context is so normal we don't even think about it, but it probably seems incomprehensible to a parrot.

[@nedludd7622]

@@bluegum6438 There is dispute about that. Researchers like B.F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, and Jean Piaget have differing opinions about the nature of language acquisition. Scientific American had an article that "some" people may be so wired.

[@pvic6959]

@@mehere8038 well your username certainly checks out lol

[@DoriZuza]

Parrot dad 😊 Parrot dog 😊 Parrot bloodshed 😮 That escalated quickly 😂

[@Hammerbruder99]

I recently watched a lot of videos about the African Grey 'Apollo'. He's truly remarkable. For example he is able to answer the questions "What is this?", "What's this made of", "What colour?" and "What am I doing?" when the owner shows him an object. So he distinguishes the desired information about the shown object based on the question! Sometimes variations of answers can occur: 'bell', 'a bell' and 'this is a bell' all can be given. The vocabulary is pretty solid for his young age (e. g. block, bell, bowl, book, plant, wario, rock, glass, metal, paper, red, black, purple, white, pour water and the action "hat" when the owner puts an object over their head). Impressive!

[@danielisozaki7500]

Apollo is incredible! GLASK

[@kingnoob5037]

His channel is called Apollo and frens if anyone is interested

[@bourbonbobo]

I just finished watching a bunch of those and then this video showed up in my subscriptions. These parrots must have control of the KZbin algorithm! Very intelligent 🤔 /j

[@Hammerbruder99]

​@@danielisozaki7500SHROCK

[@CYellowan]

I have also seen Apollo, it is fun stuff! Gotta say though, i am surprised we have yet to breed some super smart parrots or dogs with this sort of training 😯 It would be cool and probably pretty doable 🤔

[@aliengeo]

The first existential question, as in, an actual request for information about the world, to be asked by a nonhuman (that we know of) was asked by a grey parrot! Alex had been taught to answer basic questions about colors and shapes (like "what color key?" and "what shape green?") and after researchers showed him a mirror, he asked "what color Alex?"

[@beansworth5694]

bro was like 'dance monkey dance like I do for you'

[@asiamies9153]

He was probably shown a picture of him before, accompanied by a bunch of "Alex" calls, which formed the association

[@dustwyrm]

He also ate some cake once and described it as "yummy bread", showing an understanding of the meanings of individual words.

[@kittenseven4269]

Yes some are extremely intelligent. There's a guy and his parrot who make video shorts and he will ask "what is this made of?" while presenting an object and the parrot will answer correctly with either paper, metal, glass, rock, ect. If the guy asks "what is this?" The parrot will answer if he has the word for it like ball, bowl, book, wario (for a action figure). The guy can also ask "what color?" and probably more questions. It just takes hours and hours of training but these birds have the intelligence to learn

[@Devin_Stromgren]

@@dustwyrm The impressive thing about that is that most humans don't even realize that cake is just sugary bread.

[@hexbug101]

My Hahns macaw says “good morning” in the morning and “night night” when she wants to go to bed. She also has various begging noises/phrases which includes lip smacking noises and the phrases “fresh cracker?” and “good stuff?”, then after we give her some of what she’s begging for she’ll say “mmmmm” or one of the other begging noises before going in for another bite. Also I swear she can tell when someone is telling a joke due to many times she’ll laugh after someone tells one before everyone else in the room does, which causes a chain reaction where people laugh cause the bird laughed and the bird laughs again cause the people laughed.

[@asiamies9153]

Just a coincidence

[@HweolRidda]

​​​@@asiamies9153not necessarily. Many people tell jokes with a distinct pattern. You could probably quickly learn when a Mandarin speaker has delivered a punch line and then laugh at the appropriate place even if you spoke no Mandarin. Ed: not having to understand the joke would mean you might laugh before someone who takes a second to digest the meaning.

[@chinchepunta]

​@@asiamies9153parrots have proven having a sense of humor. And understanding the laughing tone.... So not a coincidence.

[@asiamies9153]

@@HweolRidda I'm not saying they cannot recognize patterns. That's the easy part. Attempting to recognize a pattern in no way means understanding the context. There will of course be flukes just like there will be red herrings. Just clearing up the "I swear she can tell when someone is telling a joke" part.

[@asiamies9153]

@@chinchepunta That's not what I'm saying. Sorry.

[@halem6580]

I grew up with an African Grey, and it was such a wild experience. She's still around and she still knows my name when I go visit my parents. She apparently only yells my name when she's seen me within the last couple of days!

[@JJoy-bk8yr]

I knew someone who owned parrots. She said on the wild they never leave their flock for their whole life except to go forage a few hours. So when they live with humans and someone leaves for more than just the day, the parrot thinks they must be dead and gets absolutely shocked when they come back

[@UnsaltedCashew38]

I have a pet green cheek conure, he knows every person of the family and treats them differently. My dad could go on vacation for 3 months and when he comes back the parrot totally remembers him. They are very smart!

[@DragoNate]

"Each parrot's name becomes the sound it makes" Parrots are Pokémon - CONFIRMED

[@guy8646]

When I adopted my African grey parrot many years ago her owner delivered her in a cage covered with a blanket. When I lifted up a corner of the blanket, she was clinging to the bars. She looked at me and said, “Parrot,” as if to announce what she was. I’ve had her for 15 years and she’s never said it again. My parents were over once and arguing. My parrot was listening intently and then quietly said, “It’s OK,” stunning my parents so much they both immediately shut up and stopped arguing. My parrot knows a ton of words and sounds but actually doesn’t talk that often.

[@Logitah]

Whoa! Your parrot has the power to stop arguments! 😮

[@antoniong1449]

"A parrot that knows what it says is smart, but one that also knows how to keep quiet is wise"

[@RedbelliedChewpacabra]

My red-bellied parrot can parse new sentences with words she hears in different contexts. She occasionally asks "want the computer" so she can see her favorite videos, and I've never taught her to say that. She's made rhymes too, all on her own.

[@ANPC-pi9vu]

Document it! Upload videos!

[@loverainthunder]

❤😂❤❤❤

[@stephsexoticpets]

My female cockatiel has recently been saying “hi bird!” 😂 It’s so cool, cute & definitely gets my attention 😂

[@user-Aaron-]

I take it you say that to her regularly?

[@Jimmy-p9n]

Learn how to wolf whistle!! 😅😅😅

[@stephsexoticpets]

@@user-Aaron- absolutely 😂

[@pqsk]

Make a video. I bet you’ll get a lot of views

[@user-Aaron-]

@@stephsexoticpets I was expecting to see some exotic pet vids on your channel but am left disappointed. Do you plan on making any?

[@FSAPOJake]

My favorite talking parrot on KZbin is Ruby, the X-rated parrot. She says all these horrible insults and curse words in a posh British accent, but she's a very sweet, snuggly African Grey, and only says those horrible things when she's in a good mood. It's a hilarious dichotomy.

[@kratze1738]

I'm not sure they still post, the Eric the F-Ing Legend was another example of this from Australia. His people kind of let him rule the roost but he had the most amazing vocabulary and really seemed to know a lot of what he was saying.

[@Beryllahawk]

A Pandemonium of Parrots. How appropriate, hahaha Even if the birds don't quite "understand" words the way we do, it's still a very wonderful thing to be greeted by a bird like that. No matter the species, we appreciate it when others show that they WANT us around.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@drstone3418 certainly reasonable to think so! Especially since "fascist" is a pretty darn nebulous term and "cracker" is a physical object. Let's maybe not get into how many different definitions have been developed to discuss political theory though, heh :D

[@fellenXD]

@@drstone3418 Dude, you need to learn proper sentence structure. That was pure gibberish. Well except for the college bashing, which miraculously came out correct. Guess someone is salty that they failed high school, and take it out on people smarter than them.

[@catpoke9557]

@@fellenXDI have legitimately seen parrots construct more cohesive sentences than Drstone here just did

[@luciferfaust]

We get a sweet "good morning!" When we come in the house, it's adorable

[@caseyshearer9519]

​@@fellenXDeducation does not equal intelligence.

[@timothycraven2465]

My grey always surprised me in how insistent she would be when talking, especially after she figured out the word want. She really loved to say want head scratches and then fly over to shove her head into my hand.

[@TimelyAbyss]

I worked at a place that took care of surrendered parrots (they often outlive their owners). Each one has its own sayings and sounds it learned from it’s environment. We had one that would flawlessly make elevator sounds. Another would sing opera. Others from less fun backgrounds would say things like “godd***ed bird”, “f***ing bird”, and yell “shut up”.

[@alliedatheistalliance6776]

How did they interract with each other, did they pick up these sounds?

[@TimelyAbyss]

@@alliedatheistalliance6776 I mean each one picked up it’s repertoire from it’s original owner.

[@ninaexmachina]

@@TimelyAbyss I think they meant, did the birds pick up on the other birds' sounds once they started to live together? Like did the opera singing bird ever start yelling "SHUT UP" or making elevator noises after hearing other birds do it?

[@EricPalmer_DaddyOh]

Growing up a friend had a myna bird that said "Stand back I'm an eagle". He also screamed the dad's first name (Howard) like the mom when she was yelling at Howard.

[@shanerooney7288]

If you ever meet a Spanish parrot, call it "Mucho". It means a lot to them.

[@furrycircuitry2378]

Este es el mejor commentario!

[@juanignaciogregoratti8606]

LOL!

[@kingghidorah8106]

jasjasjas

[@nurfuerdieplaylist]

ba dum tss

[@genio2509]

No lo entiendo :(

[@TiggerIsMyCat]

I forget the names, but I remember reading about a researcher who worked for decades with an African Gray (most stories I've seen about birds actually understanding language are of African Grays, actually), and it got to a point where he would actually string together words into sentences and have little conversations with her. But the part that pulled on my heartstrings was one night, as she's walking out the door, he calls out "I love you", which I think was something she would say to him but he hadn't said back before. And the next morning she comes in and finds him having passed away in the night. And I cried. He realized his time had come, and he wanted to make sure his human knew that he loved her before he left this earth. Actually literally crying

[@tsovloj6510]

The parrot you're thinking of was Alex.

[@catboy_official]

;_; RIP sweet birb *sobbing*

[@bird2034]

And the researcher is Irene Pepperburg.

[@alexthebudgie9071]

@@tsovloj6510I named my little man after him, he’s such an incredible bird and I still love that story. ❤

[@literallylegendary]

Wonder if the parrot just wanted to say something meaningful, new, or maybe though of the phrase as a sort of "goodbye" Either way still incredible

[@elainebelzDetroit]

I always wonder what birds think of our attempts to mimic them! My sister breeds cockatiels, and they also "talk." They're so interesting to watch as they interact - they definitely have really individual personalities. Some don't imitate human speech or other sounds at all; others do. I've watched one of her birds sort of strain to listen to and learn a tune she whistles to him. It's so cute! Remarkable creatures, birds.

[@jaschabull2365]

Yeah, I wonder what wild birds think of bird calls, now that I think of it.

[@UnsaltedCashew38]

My conure mimics my whistles so perfectly that it's an odd feeling to hear your own whistle back. My mom says she can't tell whether I'm whistling or the parrot is.

[@mehere8038]

One of my rescues used to say "raarch" a lot. I can't write that, but the sound he was making was that of a human imitating a parrot. He did it in his old owner's voice too, very funny!

[@mehere8038]

@@jaschabull2365 for mine, it depends on who's call. Their response to each other's calls, the calls of their local wild friends & stranger birds on videos are completely different. Funniest was when I recorded them while out to see what they got up to & played it back while they were in the room & they were very bemused hearing their own voices on video!

[@mehere8038]

@@UnsaltedCashew38 I forever have my home phone ringing in my bird cage. Impossible to differentiate the bird ringing from the actual phone ringing

[@phantomstrider]

Every time I'm reminded about how intelligent and awesome parrots are, I want one again 😄 It's a shame they're so adorably naughty, loud and tend to destroy your entire house when left to roam. I love parrots all the same though!

[@mylvie]

if you do get one, you should name it boo

[@phantomstrider]

@@mylvieDefinitely 😄

[@mehere8038]

Just move to Australia, then you can have dozens of wild ones as your pets & just have them destroy your entire house on the outside when you're late to feed them or they are otherwise bored :) You get to be woken by a flock of pterodactyls every morning at sunrise too! (cockatoos) It's awesome being able to have "pet" birds that can just go off & amuse themselves in the wild when you go to work etc

[@mehere8038]

One of my wild ones broke into my home the other day & got trapped inside & really didn't even seem to care lol. I'd left some food for them in my enclosed verandah when my phone rang & bird somehow managed to get in. I have no idea how it did, there's certainly no cocky sized holes in it, but I came out to find a bird trapped in there & he did try to fly off, hit the plastic bistro blind, got tangled in the rope that's used to hoist it up & down & ended up sitting at my feet, with his wing totally wrapped up in the rope & immobilised by it (would have broken his wing if he panicked & tried to fly with it like that). Anyway, together we managed to untangle the rope & he flew up onto my table & waited for me to open the blind to let him out & when I did, he continued to sit there until I tempted him out with food. Their intelligence & capacity to interact with humans, even if born & living their whole life wild, really does amaze me

[@nodical802]

To be fair, that’s kinda how anything capable of speech learns speech, human babies just copy noises they hear and don’t automatically understand word meanings.

[@nodical802]

@@SioxerNikita true but apparently lower forms can imitate having those speech centers fairly closely. Blurs the lines in a weird way

[@StonedtotheBones13]

My thoughts basically. Polly May not know want, but Polly can feel hunger, or want treats. And Polly may not know cracker, but it's likely they know it means food- maybe even diff food each time

[@suchnothing]

@@SioxerNikita Your comment about language being more than just copying sounds for babies made me think of an interesting experiment with human children and chimps. They show the kids/chimps how to get a treat out of a box using a stick. They take them through a whole pattern of actions (like tapping the box in different places) before they can get the treat, and both the chimps and the humans learn to copy each action exactly to get the treat out. Then they bring in the same box, but the sides of it are clear, showing that the majority of the steps they've learned are actually not necessary to getting the treat. Chimps will usually examine the box, see that the steps they learned aren't needed, and skip over them to get the treat faster. But the human children will still painstakingly go through each learned step even though they can see that most of the steps aren't needed. The researchers speculated that this tendency to continue to mimic the steps exactly as taught could be an important part of humans' innate ability to develop language and culture. We instinctively mimic all the steps of a behavior we're being taught, even in situations where it has no immediate utility. Your comment also made me think of my younger brother. He was diagnosed on the autism spectrum as a toddler, though you wouldn't guess it if you met him now as an adult. He learned to talk at an extremely late age. Even the usual process of babble, to simple words, to simple sentences started quite late and progressed slowly. But he showed that he had a very good understanding of what we were saying to him. His language comprehension/understanding developed much sooner than his ability to actually speak words. Babies aren't just mimicking sounds as they learn to speak, the process is much more complex.

[@mehere8038]

@@StonedtotheBones13 my parrots certainly know the sound of the fridge opening & plastic bags rustling & get super excited about it. Mine only tend to talk in stressy situations though, "I love you" from my boy actually means "I'm really stressed/scared right now"

[@erinm9445]

@@suchnothing Were they comparing human children to adult chimps? I'd like to see that experiment with toddler-aged chimps. Seems to me that the chimps were using critical thinking skills, just like an adult human would, where the human children hadn't developed any critical thinking skills yet.

[@what_equals_42]

A member of my family had a galah who would say "I'm a good boy" whenever he had done something naughty. Not sure how he learned that, because when he was actually behaving himself, he'd be told "(Bird's Name) YOU'RE a good boy", so by all rights he should have been repeating that, if he was only repeating a phrase he didn't understand. He seemed to understand a lot of other phrases, too, even if he didn't use them often himself. He was perfectly content to roam her yard in the daytime and put himself away in the evening, until an unpleasant family member moved into the house. Somehow he knew that this time that person had moved in permanently, and he flew away. I like to picture him hanging out in the mountains with a great big flock of galahs, every now and then informing the world at large that he is a good boy. 😊

[@outlawbillionairez9780]

"Politician wants a dollar!!" ......That's all I've trained my Senator to say so far.

[@shawnzien9103]

"Each parrot's name becomes the sound it makes" That's pokemon right there...

[@idraote]

Parrots are beyond cool. I wish I could be friends with one, but having one is a serious commitment.

[@lrfcowper]

I'm curious what you'd make of the dogs and cats who are learning to use speech buttons with their owners. I've been watching the channel Billi Speaks, and she definitely uses "play", "food", "outside", and "ouch" to convey her wants and needs to her owner, often getting very specific -- she wants to play fan toy or have food mousey or has tummy ouch. Sometimes she gets a lot more complex, but it's hard to know whether she's just getting confused or whether she's trying to convey something that takes more than a couple buttons.

[@dawnkeyy]

As with all these, think about what would convince you that these animals aren't actually learning human language, and how their behavior might be better explained given what we know to be fact about their psychology. For an example, the African grey Apollo's schtick is recognizing objects, their colors and the materials they are made of. For me to be convinced that he understands what he's saying, I'd have to see an experiment such as this: Teach him the word "block" using a small square red block. Now show him a big blue block. Now show him a picture of a block printed on paper. Now show him a more rectangular styrofoam block. Show him stonehenge. He has to recognize most of these as blocks with a very small margin for error, and he has to do it reliably and repeatedly. He has to do it with many concepts. That would be my test for understanding concepts. As far as grammar and syntax go, it's just obvious they don't understand those.

[@Fummy007]

Its still not language. Only humans communicate through language as far as we know.

[@lrfcowper]

@@Fummy007 I'm not sure you can say speech buttons aren't language, since they were initially designed for people with speech and language difficulties to communicate. Saying it's not language gets pretty ableist. My observation is that many animals do use a very primitive language to communicate with members of their pack or community. It's not Shakespeare, but it is communication -- the availability and location of food, the presence of danger, and so on. The idea that only humans use language isn't really scientifically supported. We just like to say that to distinguish ourselves from animals, but that doesn't make it true. Many animals form social bonds, share resources, teach their children, protect their shared territory -- all that requires communication. It's time we stopped pretending we're superior because we use language. It's the complexity of our language, not the presence of it and the supposed absence in other species, that makes us unique.

[@gwencrist.]

I feel like it’s just like the video scenarios are planned and practiced beforehand and then performed in front of the camera, like other animal training. I haven’t really watched Billie speaks apart from Jackson galaxy’s video on it though, so I’m not sure. I guess one way to tell if there’s any understanding of words would be if the speech matches with the cat’s body language and facial expressions

[@claudiaroedel1368]

⁠Apollo can see different bowls of different sizes, color and material and he knows they're all bowls. He was once perched on the fauced, tapped the tiled wall and asked "what's this". The owners said "this is made of rock". Apollo flicked the tiles a couple of times and said "this is glass". Ceramic tiles are covered in glass. That bird knows what it's talking about!

[@iadesigns]

I saw an african Grey observing the outside of the home on his perch, he correctly observed and called out his owner who was outside not engaging several feet away. He then called out how his owner was making a fire, which he was. Then the grey mentioned how bored he was. It was a full blown converation with himself with context.

[@sylphsarigo1996]

I like the way parrots use language. It's simple, but I like that. And they're very smart, we just don't always notice because they're not spending their days trying to impress us. My rescue amazon came to me saying "polly want a cracker?" So I began using cracker to mean any treat. He definitely has associations with words in his vocabulary and uses them to communicate and interact with me. "Hello" is when he is feeling socialable and/or excited, so is a great time to interact. "Bye-bye" is a little less clear if he understands, but he does know it's what we say when I walk away. I walk away whenever he says it so I assume when he says it during interactions it's because he wants me to leave. Laughing is a communial activity we do together while we're socializing. He never laughs unprompted, although "prompting" is sometimes me nervous laughing or doing the mildest chuckle. This results in him acting like he's got a kinda dark sense of humor, which is very on brand for him. He also doesn't always laugh when I do, especially if I'm laughing just to try an get him to do it. "Polly want a cracker" he says to worm treats out of me lol. "Pretty pretty pretty biiiiird" and wolf whistling he says while we're having social interactions. typically we say it back and forth to each other, as well as some yelling "aaaaaaa". This is bonding time for us. Also as kind of mentioned, parrots are totally capable of learning the names of objects and actions and forming sentences with words they understand. This doesn't take 8 hours a day of training, either, just a couple minutes daily. They can't really grasp Grammer though. For anyone who wants to see more about parrots understanding and using the human language I recommend you check out ParrotKinderGarten.

[@kratze1738]

Cunha? I was very into her blog until one day I couldn't read it anymore. She does some amazing stuff with her birds!

[@sylphsarigo1996]

​@@kratze1738 Yes, her! I didn't know she had a blog actually. I just know about her instagram and website. I'm so inspired by the stuff she does with her birds! I really wanna teach my birds communication but I'm too broke to buy her training course. Some day!

[@fodonogue3]

We used to have some as a kid. They’d always say “Hi” when I got home, ask how I was doing, call me a c*nt if I didn’t respond, and were pretty damn great! I miss them.

[@colinburke8389]

It's sort of like if someone taught you some phrases in a language you don't speak, like "say this if you want water, say this is you're happy", etc., but not what any of the words mean. You don't know what the individual parts mean or even what you're saying, but you know that saying that phrase will have a specific outcome.

[@mehere8038]

And yet Petra managed to use Alexa to call walmart, leading to her owner posting asking if anyone knows how that's actually done, or more importantly if she can disable it, because Petra apparently learnt it from trial and error & conversations with alexa while her owner was out & absolutely knew how ot repeat it to get the desired result, as well as experimenting with new music & new commands & comparing alexa & goggle to see which she liked using better etc etc. That stuff isn't possible just by repeating taught phrases is it!

[@mehere8038]

yup, mine do the association thing, but some do seem to understand word meanings. I recently saw one on "cuddle buddies" who's owner has been teaching him to read instead of talk & he seems to actually understand language a lot better than even the best talking birds like Apollo & Petra. Petra clearly understands word meanings though, given how well she can use Alexa for things like lights on, lights off, stopping & starting music (basically undoing whatever her owner tries to do) & even calling walmart via Alexa when her owner was out

[@kratze1738]

"Would you like to hear your shopping list? OK. Strawberry. Banana. Apple. Strawberry. Strawberry..."

[@emerieloop5061]

So happy that the Congo African Grey research was mentioned! My grey has really expanded my view on birds and appreciation of them.

[@dingo4530]

To be fair, humans also require hundreds of hours with experts to learn language, and don't develop it on their own in the wild.

[@craigswanson8026]

Exactly.

[@TobyLegion]

They actually do. That's why we have so many - and so different languages.

[@Maxjoker98]

@@TobyLegion Ah, but you ignored the "on their own" part of that sentence. I'm fairly certainly that in isolation humans don't develop what I'd call a language.

[@Hammerbruder99]

​@@Maxjoker98This is true. They are called 'feral children'.

[@h7opolo]

all animals love to learn. public education actually mistrains humans in particular...

[@samanthacarrion9179]

My parrot wouldn't say it often but he knew when I needed it he would say "Hey I love you" he was so smart it was insane.

[@TheRealBatabii]

My high school science teacher insisted that his parrot understood basic English like a toddler would

[@spiritmatter1553]

Your teacher is right! 🦜

[@The_Blazement]

That does line up with the results of all those crow problem-solving experiments, they showed a level of intelligence similar to that of a toddler, so parrots being just as smart wouldn't surprise me parrots are almost as loud as toddlers too lol

[@TheRealBatabii]

@@The_Blazement Yes. but I'm talking actual conversation, not just problem-solving.

[@The_Blazement]

@@TheRealBatabii well, they both require intelligence

[@TheRealBatabii]

@gambilious9690 I'm still skeptical that a parrot could hold a real conversation, even at a basic level.

[@winniethepooh1362]

Made the mistake of playing the “my higga” song around my parrot

[@tiffanymarie9750]

Apollo the African gray definitely understands noun, adjectives, and even some verbs; he just doesn't have human grammar.

[@mehere8038]

yet

[@tiffanymarie9750]

@@mehere8038 fair enough

[@Palozon]

I remember being told the calls were more akin to a secret handshake than a name. Like it they aren't "naming" themselves, but the specific relationship.

[@mehere8038]

it's not really secret if they all know it though is it? Use is the same as what we use names for

[@catpoke9557]

@@mehere8038The reason it's different is because they don't all use it. Bird naming conventions are different from humans oftentimes. If I recall, each bird uses a different name for the same bird, because they're not naming the bird itself per se, but the relationship between the two of them. It's like giving your friend group a name, except it's just you and one other person in the group, and you call for them exclusively by calling your group name.

[@mehere8038]

@@catpoke9557 I question that, based on my pet lorikeet's interactions with various wild & video birds. Lorikeets flock in the tens of thousands, there's no way each could have different names for each bird they interact with. My pet birds know all the local birds & use different calls for them (although there are only a relatively small number they really chat with, in the double digits, not triple or quadruple digits, despite there being that number of wild lorikeets in the area) There's a cockatoo here that I refer to as "hello cocky", cause he says a sort of human "hello" whenever he comes to visit me or my neighbours, so as to introduce his arrival. My lorikeets call that cocky by that name, doing that same "hello" to greet him. Watching a covid briefing video one evening, all of a sudden, out of the blue, both my lorikeets gave that greeting & came out of their cage to look at the video. I replayed it back a bit, cause I hadn't heard anything in it to explain that & on replay, sure enough, there was a cocky screeching in the background, not saying "hello", just screeching, which is actually pretty normal everywhere in Australia. Anyway that covid briefing was being held outside & I later found out, less than 1km from my home, so presumably that was indeed "hello cocky" on that video & my birds recognised his voice & called him by name/gave their usual greeting that they do when he turns up & says his "name". They watch bird videos, including cocky ones all the time btw & have never done that before or since

[@Gwosts]

I like to think birds are like modern dinosaurs and the fact your wearing a t-shirt is the icing on the cake haha

[@craycray375]

So similar to how cats will "talk" to humans and not really vocalize with other cats.

[@luciferfaust]

I have a freak of a void cat that ONLY meows at our other cats, it's very weird!

[@TheoRae8289]

There's a Grey i follow named Gizmo and he's figured out how to string phrases together to a hilarious degree. There's a video where hes asked to sing a song and responses with "*sigh* alright. Hey siri!" When his owner said "not like that" he does a very sarcastic "doot doo doo".

[@joeshabado1431]

I love my conures. I wish they could vocalize but they know how let me know what they want. Their main way is to fly to something they want and start bowing. Needless to say I have to keep treats hidden.

[@darylcheshire1618]

They jump up and down on the spot.

[@TheoRae8289]

Aw almost like they're pointing with their beaks.

[@redgyrados2000]

This reminds me of the short story "The Great Silence" by Ted Chaing, which posutaltes the idea that parrots are way more intelligent than we realize. I'd highly recommend it.

[@brookeardile6219]

That was a great story. Also a little heartbreaking.

[@beansworth5694]

I would extend this idea beyond just parrots. Being a neurodivergent human means that even if you're capable of understanding things a lack of intuitive understanding of the nuances will make you appear unintelligent, helpless, less than human. So you learn to mimic, you claw that understanding inch by inch until you pass as functional- either that or you feel demoralized, don't see the point in trying to adapt your mental frameworks to better suit people who don't seem to want to understand you and remain in social desolation. Now imagine the divergence is much, much greater. A dog, parrot, cat, what have you which has great power held over them by a human caretaker, since in that environment human communication norms are the hegemonic social medium, just as neurotypical communication norms hegemonically restrict the neurodiverse. Speech isn't the only way intentional communication is done, just as submission to mores isn't the only way to demonstrate respect.

[@AyameFyuu]

Parrots are just amazing birds. And they are so smart too! So I enjoyed seeing a video on them.

[@venatrix3483]

I quite often talk to my animals, and one of my animals is a parrot (a galah called scoop). She learnt the franze “what you doin’,” and would say it if she couldn’t see you. Me, my mother and my nan would respond to her with “(insert activity here)”. One day Scoop said the usual “what you doin’,” to which mum responded with “(insert activity here)”. Scoop answered that with “Why?” She kept saying it until she got a responce.

[@checkmate1284]

My Spanish teacher has some parrots and they all speak Spanish. We’ve seen a few videos of them and their pronunciation is really good and way better than anyone in our class.

[@IDreamOfCrafting]

I have two Macaws and one is very chatty. When I come in with food she immediately says "hi" or "hello" followed quickly by "come on" and "here ya go". Lol. She's so funny and smart. The boy is just mean. 😅

[@mehere8038]

My girl's the mean one. My boy's the chatty one & also very henpecked, even though he's double the size of my girl lorikeet

[@jarihaukilahti]

i wonder why people belive "polly want a cracker means craker_instead they should show differnt items and sya the items word eg banana , apple ,pie , nut -then ask that the parrot wants , since more than five items are to much for humans i guess 4 would be of like at the atm-4 numbers

[@mehere8038]

@@jarihaukilahti In Australia people generally say "cocky want a cracker?" instead of "polly" & it's usually to wild cockies & they usually follow up with whatever food they have at hand that is most suitable to feed a cocky, which tents to be some sort of biscuit/cracker. More often than not, they don't really intend on feeding the cocky, but when cocky responds appropriately to them saying that, they feel guilty & try to find something to feed the bird. Tourists might say "polly" instead of "cocky", although even then, when it's a great big cocky sitting there & cocky kinda rhymes with polly, or at least fits into the phrase well, they tend to switch it. Wild cockies here know both & tend to respond with something that resembles "yes/yeh" or repeating the phrase, which people just cannot resist rewarding. Phrases like "cocky want a nut?" don't tend to get copied by the cockies, cause they learn the cracker first, even though they like nuts better & also "nut" doesn't tend to get used properly, people instead often telling the cocky "you're a nut" etc due to it's behaviour, so they don't associate it with food in the same way. One cocky species here is literally called a "galah", which is a word also used as standard for a person who's a clown, based on how cockies behave. Cockies are actually more likely to associate "hello" with meaning food than other food type names, such as nuts, sunflower seeds etc & many cockies do also announce their arrival & intention on being fed with "hello" & people respond ot "hello" with food such as sunflower seeds & nuts Aussies btw don't tend to use the word "cracker" for anything other than bird food/whatever they're feeding to wild birds

[@MajorCaptainCabron]

My Amazon Bluefront says omg a lot, he laughs and curses when I move pots and pans

[@hislamb4528]

Thanks for being a great presenter on Parrots! Say, did you just give us “The Bird”? Lol!😂

[@benjisaac]

My brother’s bird always said “get wet” for no reason we could figure out (my mom took showers with him and would say that until one day he decided he didn’t like them, but kept saying it). He also said “thank you” when he wanted to be fed lol he also definitely played with my dogs, he would scream to make them run to the door and see what was outside and then cackle to himself

[@TheoRae8289]

I knew a man with a lovebird that would call their dog and chatter to her.

[@BarelyMakinIt]

they may not always grasp the grammar and syntax, but they are able to understand the overall ideas behind words and short phrases, and rearrange them, change the inflection on them to change the meaning, or find new uses for them. I had a ringneck who would say "good boy?" as a question whenever I looked mad. "Are you mad at me?" is, I think, the meaning behind it. I never used that inflection with that phrase, he came up with it (or learned it) himself.

[@morgan_the_martian]

Sometimes even budgies can learn to ascribe context to words/phrases. My budgie is capable of asking for fresh water or food and knows what's going to happen when I say "we're going to sleep" or "we're going outside". He knows my brother's name and often responds with excited noises when he hears it. It's just wonderful, even if they don't understand the literal meaning of the words. Just being able to communicate like this is precious

[@JUMALATION1]

I have two small parrots. They know about three human words each, plus some sounds that are not human but that they always say in a specific setting. (For example, one of them has a "water sound" that she says when she sees water, either as in a water dispenser for birds, a glass of water meant for humans, or the "bathtub", in which they can splash around.)

[@Fluttermoth]

I've got a quaker that makes a water sound; he makes it every time we go to the bathroom or kitchen, because he knows I'll probably be turning the taps on :)

[@AngelaCSpears]

I had a cherry-headed conure/red-masked conure who was being watched by a friend. He startled her and she jumped causing the bird to imitate laughter. She asked him, "Are you trying to mock me?" He replied with, "Mocking!" and more laughing noises. He'd never encountered the word "mock" before, and chose to add the -ing ending himself. Likely the emotion put into the word caused him to choose to pick it up, but figuring out that it was appropriate to add the -ing noise was his own thought process.

[@ferretyluv]

Alex the African Gray truly did understand what he was saying.

[@rmdodsonbills]

My parrot says "time for night-night" but after 25 years, I'm not sure if he really understands the context or if he thinks it means "I'm bored, pay attention to me." He has figured out to substitute the word "boy" in for "bird" in a phrase, correctly recognizing those two words are synonyms as far as he's concerned, even though I always use them separately.

[@gutspraygore]

Bonding. Yeah. My roommate and I had a friend that asked us to look after her African Grey while they were away for a couple weeks. The bird hated us and would try to bite us any chance it could (even when we're trying to feed it). The thing never spoke to us and only squawked when we were around, however, when it thought we were away, it would start speaking. It could even repeat one side of a phone conversation meaning it only had to hear it once. The thing was very smart. But, it still hated us. Our friend told us it is like that with all guys. He gets jealous when there are other dudes around her.

[@mehere8038]

parrots also tend to HATE when their owner's go away, they feel betrayed & deserted, so will tend to be in a horrible mood over that before any other factors are added into the equation too

[@erikvale3194]

Claiming parrots don't understand words, just contexts is kinda silly, because that's how humans understand words,. It just means that without training grey parrot style, they have the knowledge of a toddler, or a person guessing a word from context on first hearing it. It just so happens that parrots might think 'poly want a cracker' is a long word instead of multiple words without training.

[@curtiswritt8474]

Hopefully Polly doesn't call a person a cracker😂

[@SilverAceOfSpades]

I wouldn't be offended.

[@curtiswritt8474]

@@SilverAceOfSpades Neither would I, I'd crack up laughing

[@AkumakoCross]

I do a little bit of dogsitting, and the last time I had my regular houseguest dog over, she kept wanting to go out on the front patio to bask in the sun. When I let them out, I prop the door open with a rock. After one or two sessions, she started smacking the doorstop to say “I wanna go hang out” as opposed to “I want a walk,” which is just staring at the door or doing a jig in front of it. If anyone’s curious, that dog is a pure mutt. Not sure exactly what the mix is, but I’m guessing bulldog, chihuahua, maybe some pitt, plus a bit of goblin and potbelly pig.

[@miklaughter]

I just need to comment on this because I just noticed, the way you put key statements spelled out on the screen is so great, it really works on me and that's not easy! just, thanks.

[@yalda7543]

i have a parrot and i definitely don't think she's just only mimicking our words. perhaps she doesn't always know what every word in a phrase means, but the way that she uses words/phrases in the correct context tells me that it's more than just pure mimicry. there is a level of understanding there and i am absolutely certain of it. we didn't even teach her some of the things she picked up, and yet she continues to use them accurately. i saw other comments saying that context is also a big part of how human children first learn words/language and i honestly agree with that, what we see in parrots is similar. side note: this isn't really about this video but i've seen people equate parrots' abilities to understand our language with intelligence - i don't disagree but honestly, how much do we understand their language? i feel like i can understand my bird well, but i'm doing the same thing she does to understand me - relying on context, tone, and remembering different sounds. i don't know exactly what she's saying, but i can make a decent guess based off of those things.

[@dustwyrm]

Completely agree with both your points.

[@RC-nq7mg]

I once went to a model shop with some friends and they had a parrot there that would whisle cat call womem. My girlfriend at the time found it hilarious saying I had competition with the bird.

[@jaschabull2365]

Reminds me of when my mum and I were in the jungle in Guyana and we kept hearing wolf whistles. Our guide explained to me that it was a bird call which was sending an alarm of danger, so the bird was apparently alerting the other birds about us.

[@eschwarz1003]

a "pandemonium" of parrots? PERFECT. Also I want to know more about the parrots video calling other parrots

[@mehere8038]

There's an actual scientific study on this experiment, should come up if you search for it

[@KY_CPA]

They posted a short that also includes videos of the birds calling each other 😍 30/10 definitely recommend

[@RedBroski]

Something interesting I read a while back, was someone who pointed at an airplane asking the parrot what it was. The bird said it was a "flying car". The person asked something like "are you sure it's not just a big bird" and the parrot said no.

[@MrClickity]

I'm reminded of a story I heard about someone's pet octopus. They started making little puzzles for the octopus to solve with a crab inside as the reward (crabs were its favorite food). It started getting really enthusiastic and clever about opening the puzzles. After awhile, something interesting happened: if they put a crab in the tank without a puzzle, the octopus would ignore it. Almost as if it was bored with an easy meal and wanted the challenge of the puzzle.

[@kratze1738]

I've heard octopi are amazingly intelligent. I believe it.

[@FloozieOne]

A pandemonium is a group of parrots. That is hilarious. If you have ever heard a flock of parrots in a tree all talking at once that is absolute pandemonium.

[@jcehlert]

My parrots love hearing their tiktok videos. They go nuts hearing their own voices.

[@mehere8038]

Mine too, mine definitely pass a modified mirror test on their own voices, dismally fail a visual mirror test though

[@kratze1738]

@@mehere8038 I think the mirror test is overrated. When it works, it's useful, but there have to be alternatives. It can't be the ONLY method in the entire world to test for self-awareness.

[@kristijanoros7208]

My budgie always greets me with "Hi!" when I enter the house/room. And he probably understands the meaning of "come here", he will wait for you to call him and sometimes if he doesn't want to come he will even puff up and repeat it in a manner that looks like mocking to me

[@murkyseb]

I made friends with a rockatiel who would say hello but only once and usually he first time I’d see them each day. They’re also say how u doin and then if I’d tell them and ask how they were doing they’d made all kinds of made up parrot words as if they were telling me about what’s on their mind

[@muurrarium9460]

"Polly" or in my case "D" knew EXACTLY what those words meant. She would tell the human opening the fridge what she wanted for a snack. (To be honest: she would order it.) If she did not know the word for what she was offered she would improvise " a piece of........something nice?" until she learned (2 days of snacking) that the word was papaya, so she could ask for that as well. She also was clicker-training me... if I did something she would like me do, she would throw the clickersound at me! (I did not even clickertrain her, ever!) Imitation is about survival. My other African grey is fluent in "amazon" (because his cage-neighbours were 2 of that kind), it not just "human speech".

[@Aluciel286]

My childhood friend's neighbor had a parrot who would just scream curse words all day. It was probably very annoying to our parents, but we thought it was hilarious 😅

[@MukhayriqYahya]

A parrot's name is the sound it makes.... So basically they're Pokemon?

[@510newguy]

What I think is fascinating is when parrots dance along with songs they like. This was a fun video, thanks for presenting it in an engaging way!

[@mehere8038]

And they have very specific tastes in music too. I discovered mine like ABBA when watching Mamma Mia. Not my thing, but my birds LOVE it when I put ABBA music on & sing along to it, music I like, more often than not, they complain about & scream to try to stop lol They also have different tastes to each other in some music, so my boy will sing along to something, while my girl will scream at him & even start pecking at him to stop it, cause she doesn't like that type of music lol

[@Anonymous-vw8ei]

that video was amazing. felt like it was a little too short but it was straight to the point! keep up the good work

[@rambysophistry1220]

I would like to posit one important thing. That which is "natural" and "unnatural" is kinda anthropocentric, and it would be a better distinction of "in the wild" vs "in human cohabitation and/or collaboration". If for no other reason then it highlights that we are coordinating with and not subordinating the animals we are working with.

[@michelehemlokhexwhite4310]

My parrot asks for a bath when she's about to fly into her bath bowl, a seed, an apple etc. Says good morning in the morning, a kiss when she goes to give me a kiss. As a parrot owner, you know when your bird is just mimicking or interacting. The parrot with the ipad in this clip looks like a channel called 'Parrot kindergarden.' Well worth a look. Rote imitation sounds like what many people in our society do.

[@Saleca]

I dont see why dismiss the fact that parrots can understand what they listen and say just because they dont talk in the wild. They are able to understand rather complex topics from shapes materials colors so a home parrot that says I Love You probably really means it. My parrot doesnt talk but he is really smart with body language loves our food and is not shy to ask for it

[@mehere8038]

"I love you" from my rescue bird certainly does NOT mean that lol it means "I'm scared/stressed"

[@Saleca]

@@mehere8038 you might be right, but at the same time you rescued the bird he knows it if you treat him well maybe one day he means it

[@mehere8038]

@@Saleca lol nope, this bird will always see "I love you" as what to say when stressed. He won't even listen to music that is singing lyrics about love without getting on edge & stressy just hearing someone else say it. He's developing his own communication to mean that he loves me, he likes doing little clicks to actually say he loves me, that to him is the same as the words "I love you", the words have a different meaning for him - which is pretty sad really to think about what must have happened in his life for him to learn that

[@lubomirkubasdQw4w9WgXcQ]

when my cat meows at me, i meow at him back with the exact same pitch and loudness. i think it's similar to that

[@monstrodemidway420]

I love that shirt!

[@CyberThug1080i]

That's the same way we learned language by association.

[@angellace3498]

I believe it, when I got my budgie (the lower end of smart birds) I was home all day and figured I'd personally be enough for it. It wasn't bonding very well to me, and I figured (correctly) it was depressed so I got it a buddy. I think it understands I did that for it and, while its a complete bastard, it's def my buddy.

[@hamjudo]

Bluejays mimic other animals to see the response. If the response is useful they keep doing it. A very common example is a bluejay imitating the call of a red tailed hawk or other local bird of prey. That sound scares away all of the other birds from our birdfeeder, so the bluejays can pig out. I overheard a conversation between two bluejays. I couldn't see either one, but one was much closer than the other, so it was easy to figure out which one was talking. I can't otherwise tell one bluejay squawk from another, but they mean things to the bluejays. The near bluejay would squawk, then mimic a song bird, then pause. The far bluejay would squawk back. The near bluejay would then do it again, but making different songbird calls each time. The far bluejay replied after each songbird call. Eventually, the near bluejay ran through its complete set of impressions, and the conversation shifted to just bluejay squawks, and then they both flew off.

[@dakotastein9499]

heres the thing tho...birds learn words the same way young children do...children learn words by conditioning,ascociation and repeating as wel...the only difference is children keep developing in that aspect and the smartest birds stop at about the equivalent of a 5 or 6 year old child..and parrots arent the only ones either birds of the corvidae family such as crows and ravens may have an even better grasp on human behavior and word association than parrots do.

[@anserbauer309]

I agree. I think the video was reflective of some fairly old-fashioned ideas about language and what constitutes 'understanding'. With birds, it's not as well developed as in older humans.... but for many parrots, corvids and some others, there's a level of comprehension at least as good as that of small children. The video completely neglects to mention that many birds have specific calls equivalent to words with specific meanings...... and that different species can learn what those calls mean and so communicate the presence of particular predators, the appearance of food or make a challenge to other species in their environment. I have Australian magpies in my garden and they have different words for 'eagle', 'falcon' and 'fox', all of which are understood by my poultry and wild birds in the garden.... and by me, so I know whether to go outside with my camera (eagle and falcon), or with the dogs (fox).

[@dakotastein9499]

@@anserbauer309 its also worth noting that the mind of a bird is very different than most other animals,even in the wild many of a birds natural abilities are all learned and developed behavior rather than instinctual (even flying)...thats why birds born in captivity rarely do well in the wild especially if they are accustomed with poeple. inteligent bird species have just as much in common with us as primates...in fact the common crow exibits more human-like behavior than chimps and apes...on TOP of bein able to pick up human words in the wild and making tools

[@anserbauer309]

@@dakotastein9499 Absolutely.

[@TheoRae8289]

Crows also remember faces and behaviors and will tell others of their murder about interactions they've had (one experiment involved them warning each other that one of the researchers (in a mask) was being bad. And they hold a grudge, to boot.

[@dakotastein9499]

@@TheoRae8289 that all being said crows are such wonderful endeering animals...they dont deserve the stigma they get.

[@artsyapple6509]

I wish you delved further into Jennifer Cunha, who was the video calling birds segment. She actually teaches her birds language and spelling, the same way that you would in a school curriculum. She does blind tests where she is unaware of how their answers are lined up on various q cards, and they always answer properly. And they get treats for simply answering, no matter what the answer is, so they are able to use their own process of understanding to pick what fits into what they want to say at any given moment. They read, and even are learning how to write letters. One even was able to express feeling 'ouch' in her 'tummy' to Jen, and Jen ended up being concerned enough to look into it, and the vet actually seen an infection in her 'tummy' (crop). And once all was healed, she expressed 'happy, feel happy'. So they truly can understand things. They don't just mimic. They create their own sentances and songs with their repertoire, phrases that they make brand new with what they learned.

[@kratze1738]

I loved reading her blog until it suddenly became inaccessible for some reason. One of the interesting things she found was that her birds (cockatoos mainly) could not handle more than 2 choice until they hit puberty, and thereafter they could handle 3 or more options without picking randomly. Lots of good stuff on her blog!

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

My grandpa had an African gray parrot, and the parrot would laugh at jokes people told around him. The strange thing is, the bird didn't just join in when other people were laughing, the parrot would be the first one to start laughing!

[@MsTiggytoo]

I was watching a demonstration of macaws outside the rainforest cafe. The trainer asked the bird to do something then forgot to give the treat. The bird called out to her. She said “I’m sorry. I forgot”. The bird said “you forgot dammit”. Clear as anything. It didn’t repeat what she said. And it knew to refer to her as “you” and to add the extra word dammit. I never forgot that.

[@catpoke9557]

They usually have some understanding of some of the words they say. Especially things like "peanut," they probably know almost exactly what it means... it means peanut! The food they really like. They also generally seem to understand "want" as well.

[@waterfrost5080]

I love parrots, their so cute and fluffy, elegant and charming, and no other animal will ever be as unique and awesome as parrots.

[@stevieinselby]

When I hear a recording of myself talking, it sounds nothing like I think I sound in my head. So are parrots more self-aware about the sounds they make themselves than we are? And if every parrot is trying to imitate the sound another parrot makes, how do they know the sound they are imitating isn't that parrot imitating a different parrot? 🤔 This is getting complicated...

[@siloPIRATE]

So what you’re saying is there could be a Master Parrot that all parrots are imitating?

[@kratze1738]

Parrots hear pitch at a much better rate than we do (like six times better). I wonder if some of them are afraid of getting the pitch wrong when we wouldn't even hear the difference.

[@NotSoNormal1987]

Even budgies can understand a bit of hunan speech. Which is wild seeing how small they are.

[@roberteltze4850]

There is an African Grey that was taught a lot of words. In it's own it combined long and yellow to ask for a banana. I'd say that shows it wasn't just mimicking.

[@rmdodsonbills]

There is good evidence that Greys can figure out (or be taught) the meanings of words and use them with understanding.

[@mehere8038]

that's a good example. Do you remember the name of that bird/what it's channel is, I'd like to watch it if it has one

[@EdToml]

And, one was given cake. The next day it asked for sweet bread, which is a good description of cake...

[@dustwyrm]

​@@EdToml It was the next day? I thought he said yummy bread right after eating it, but I don't remember.

[@dawnkeyy]

And when Koko the gorilla saw a swan, she said "water bird". Either way, experts agree Koko wasn't capable of using what we call language. Most of the behavior we see in these animals is them just "spamming" words, trying to bruteforce their way to a treat or a toy. Given years Koko spent with the researcher (that wanted to believe) charitably interpreting all communication, it was inevitable a thing like "water bird" or "yellow long" was going to happen. Still, the animals don't do it reliably or consistently. Another example of this biased interpreting that comes to mind is from the channel Apollo and frens. Apollo is asked to name the material from which some sort of sorta thin piece of wood. He says "paper", and his caretakers "debate" that the wood is so thin that it could be interpreted as paper. Still, these animals haven't shown an understanding of grammar or syntax.

[@amyg4549]

I have an Eclectus, he’s a pretty good “talker”. I would liken his speech to a traveler who learns the very bare essentials to get by: greetings, profanities, names, yes/no, thank you, love you. Different tones and inflections are used with words like “hello”, if he’s trying to get attention vs. seeing his family in the morning.

[@GestaltO]

I think it was Einstein (African Grey) who correctly identified a woman he'd only ever seen on a magazine by stating something like "it's the monkey lady" when she walked in the room for the first time. EDIT: It was N'kisi, not Einstein.

[@TheoRae8289]

Did Einstein meet Jane Goodall??

[@GestaltO]

@@TheoRae8289 I refreshed my memory afterwards. It was an African Grey named N'Kisi, but yes it was Jane Goodall.

[@superepic_dragon4889]

why am i watching a video about parrots at 3 am should go to sleep

[@anyascelticcreations]

Cool. I love videos like this. But lots of other animals know names, too. My cats know their names and all of each other's names. My dog does, too. I know a lot of other animals do, too.

[@brandonlykins2419]

imagine being friends with a parrot and y'all talk every day on the phone FaceTiming and whatnot, and one day, he ghosts you 😢😂

[@jtjames79]

Depends on the parrot.

[@EirynKatherine]

I can't believe that you causally threw in at the end of the video that a group of parrots is a pandemonium. Why was this not the start of the video? It's so good. That's definitely the fact from this video that I'm going to get the most use out of. "You're parrot copying you is a form of bonding. In the wild they do it with their pandemonium. Yeah a pandemonium is the word for a group of parrots."