Why do people insist that when birds talk they have no idea what they are saying?
Conversation wise between my macaw and amazon can be quite entertaining. When Baby wants me she tells me to come here. When I am doing something that Fuego cannot see he asks “what are you doing” They both tell me goodbye when I leave, they welcome me when I come home. Special treats are welcomed with Mmm good OR hey, THANK YOU! When they need extra attention and I cannot give it to the instantly the tone changes to almost a whine, kinda like a child begging. I don’t know but sounds like they can put two & 2 together pretty darn good. This is only a small portion of the interesting actions that keep me in awe every single day….Any input?
See them on this paGE:
http://webpages.charter.net/rjsworld/pages/fam2.htm
And to vrborn2njoy
WHAT? My birds talk better than you do…
And both my macaw and amazon are potty trained. We have not had a single accident all summer.
You are absoluteIy correct.
It is possible and it has been proven that parrot are cognicent. Dr. Irene Pepperberg rocked the world of Science back in 1999, when she published a paper titled: “The Alex Studies- Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots”. She developed what is called “The Model-Rival Training Techinique”. This technique uses 2 humans and a parrot “subject” to not only learn “language”, but the actual meanings of the words. Alex, her African Grey Parrot is now world famous for his extensive vocabulary and comprehension of words, phrases, and labels of objects, matter and color. He understands the concept of size, shape, category and sameness He also has proven he understands the concept of zero…that is, the absence of an object…actually a very difficult concept to understand.
Alex (named for the phrase, Avian Learning EXperiment) just turned 30 this summer, and is still learning more things.
PBS did a feature a while back on Alex and Irene in a Program called “Pet Tech” hosted by Alan Alda You can watch it here:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1201/video/watchonline.htm
Alex’s website is right here:
http://www.alexfoundation.org/
Here is another link to a transcript and audio recording of Dr. Pepperberg describing Alex’s abilities:
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pepperberg03/pepperberg_index.html
It is a facinating subject, and Irene’s “Model-Rival” technique has been adopted by therapists working with autistic children and it has been used with tremendous success.
“The Alex Studies” is an interesting book if you can get through all of the scientific data, but once you wade through the footnotes and charts, you come away with the realization that this experiment was absolutely airtight. She did an incredible job designing the experiments and recording her data.
I’ve found that most people are unaware of recent discoveries about parrots. They have no clue about what has been learned even in the last 20 years or so, even in regard to basics such as parrot nutrition, housing and training. The public at large is catching up, but for the most part they are unaware of the latest findings.
You are obviously doing an amazing job with your birds. You are most likely an instinctive trainer with a nose for behavior and have trained your birds to cognitively understand you and respond appropriately. Congratulations! I would love to know the techniques you are using to achieve the results you’ve gotten!
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