Parrot's oratory stuns scientists

Bes · 4 Jan 2007 at 11:57

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3430481.stm :cool:

Makes you think - I wonder just how clever some animals really are

AJUK · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:04

I am already convinced that many animals are far more intelligent than we give them credit for.

Ricochet J · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:09

That's brilliant! It begs the question, are humans who keep animals as pets stopping their evolution?

Who's to say AJUKs dog (assuming he has one) wouldn't go out in the wild, pick up new tricks like talk and then pass on those characteristics to its offspring?

ElRazur · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:10

Cool

Chronos-X · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:10

OLD

!

But new to me - interesting reading.

Macca · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:14

We have the same parrot as that, and you'll be suprised how smart they are. My one started talking about my old cat when he seen my grans cat which looks similar, he knows it's bed time when the late news comes on and he knows when theres chips being made or brought home so he shouts for them. He also makes up his own sentences but they actually make sense.

That's just a handful of things he says/does it's amazing.

AJUK · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:15

Ricochet J said:
That's brilliant! It begs the question, are humans who keep animals as pets stopping their evolution?

Who's to say AJUKs dog (assuming he has one) wouldn't go out in the wild, pick up new tricks like talk and then pass on those characteristics to its offspring?

Possibly but it is hard at work training to savage small children at the moment. I am taunting it with a Barbie doll as I write.

I haven't got any pets btw.

Efour · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:18

AJUK said:
Possibly but it is hard at work training to savage small children at the moment. I am taunting it with a Barbie doll as I write.

I haven't got any pets btw.

Hillllaaarious ..... :rolleyes:

Ricochet J · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:21

Efour2 said:
Hillllaaarious .....

tom_e · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:24

Ricochet J said:

I think hes taken it in reference to the young girl who died recently

Chronos-X · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:28

blitz2163 said:
I think hes taken it in reference to the young girl who died recently

Got it in one

kaiowas · 4 Jan 2007 at 14:08

Macca said:
he knows it's bed time when the late news comes on

Any animal can learn routine. Even our chinchillas know that when I turn the lamp off in the living room I'm about to give them a raisin and go to bed.

Visage · 4 Jan 2007 at 14:13

kaiowas said:
I'm about to give them a raisin

Euphemism?

Andelusion · 4 Jan 2007 at 14:13

It's very interesting.

In all those examples though he seems to be commenting on things from observation, if he could actually have an (albeit simple) conversation with someone then this would really show intelligence. The part about him using past tenses and creating his own words is really interesting though, it'd be good to hear more about that in detail.

There was a study on a chimp called Wacko who could use a large coloured keyboard to communicate his observations of items and peoples actions, but he couldn't actually use it to have a conversation with someone, so this is a similar thing really. Being able to identify things with communication and actually being able to communicate with someone are 2 very different things showing very different types of intelligence.

MetalStorm · 4 Jan 2007 at 15:29

Ricochet J said:
That's brilliant! It begs the question, are humans who keep animals as pets stopping their evolution?

Who's to say AJUKs dog (assuming he has one) wouldn't go out in the wild, pick up new tricks like talk and then pass on those characteristics to its offspring?

Wow. What a miss-guided idea of how evolution works! I'm impressed.

Dr.EM · 4 Jan 2007 at 15:38

AJUK said:
I am already convinced that many animals are far more intelligent than we give them credit for.

Agreed. We seem to undermine them a lot. Our cat used to walk to the front door about 1-2 minutes before the car arrived back (this is when i'm at home and family were out in the car). I can't imagine it's possible to hear and recognise the car engine tone from that distance, and she'd do this consistently on many (every really) occasions. She also often goes to the kitchen and starts to sharpen her claws on the rug out there expectantly well before the tin of tuna has been opened. She won't do this if it's another tin (soup etc) and she never saw the tin being placed there.

J1234 · 4 Jan 2007 at 15:51

I have a African Grey parrot too, he repeats everything, can get quite annoying. They can learn a vocabulary of up to 3000 words :eek:

Macca · 4 Jan 2007 at 16:05

kaiowas said:
Any animal can learn routine. Even our chinchillas know that when I turn the lamp off in the living room I'm about to give them a raisin and go to bed.

Yeah but does yours say good night and give you kisses?

(i know it will learn a routine) And your switching the light off and feeding them, he listens to the television not actions by anyone. That was just a handful of things he does off the top of my head, these birds are really smart, not all are as capable a friends never talks much and just bites.

It's just weird how he uses words and makes his own sentences which make sense. Can be annoying having him though, can talk too much and when you don't want him too.

VIRII · 4 Jan 2007 at 16:13

Macca said:
these birds are really smart, not all are as capable a friends never talks much and just bites..

Hehe they aren't all that smart in my experience. The mother in law had one for about 10 years and one day it got out of its cage. Her 2 Jack Russells tore it to shreds. A smart birdwould have realised that Jack Russells can not fly and headed upwards

Macca · 4 Jan 2007 at 16:16

VIRII said:
Hehe they aren't all that smart in my experience. The mother in law had one for about 10 years and one day it got out of its cage. Her 2 Jack Russells tore it to shreds. A smart birdwould have realised that Jack Russells can not fly and headed upwards

We used to have dogs and cats in the house with the bird, and the bird would chase the cats along the floor and try give the dog kisses

Luckily we never had any problems but we did watch the dog, as the cats were just scared of a bird