That Damn Bird

[Ladyhawk]

That Damn Bird

Dr. Irene Pepperberg reports on Alex and Griffin, her two "research" parrots:

There are some things that the birds do that, colloquially speaking, "just blow us away." We were training Alex to sound out phonemes, not because we want him to read as humans do, but we want to see if he understands that his labels are made up of sounds that can be combined in different ways to make up new words; that is, to demonstrate evidence for segmentation. He babbles at dusk, producing strings like "green, cheen, bean, keen", so we have some evidence for this behavior, but we need more solid data.

Thus we are trying to get him to sound out refrigerator letters, the same way one would train children on phonics. We were doing demos at the Media Lab for our corporate sponsors; we had a very small amount of time scheduled and the visitors wanted to see Alex work. So we put a number of differently colored letters on the tray that we use, put the tray in front of Alex, and asked, "Alex, what sound is blue?" He answers, "Ssss." It was an "s", so we say "Good birdie" and he replies, "Want a nut."

Well, I don't want him sitting there using our limited amount of time to eat a nut, so I tell him to wait, and I ask, "What sound is green?" Alex answers, "Ssshh." He's right, it's "sh," and we go through the routine again: "Good parrot." "Want a nut." "Alex, wait. What sound is orange?" "ch." "Good bird!" "Want a nut." We're going on and on and Alex is clearly getting more and more frustrated. He finally gets very slitty-eyed and he looks at me and states, "Want a nut. Nnn, uh, tuh."

Not only could you imagine him thinking, "Hey, stupid, do I have to spell it for you?" but the point was that he had leaped over where we were and had begun sounding out the letters of the words for us. This was in a sense his way of saying to us, "I know where you're headed! Let's get on with it," which gave us the feeling that we were on the right track with what we were doing. These kinds of things don't happen in the lab on a daily basis, but when they do, they make you realize there's a lot more going on inside these little walnut-sized brains than you might at first imagine.

[Patiod]

1. Cited in "Animals in Translation"

Temple Grandin cites that exact text in her book, and I was just reading it to my SO last week! Almost scary. Although if you read "The Parrot that Owns Me", not surprising. Parrots are proving to be way more intelligent than most scientists suspected - Pepperberg says they're comparable to a 4-6 yo child.

We get most of our books from the library, but I just might spring to purchase the Temple Grandin book. So much great stuff about autism, dogs, horses, cattle, birds (you get the idea she's not fond of cats, though)

There's a chapter about how dogs and man evolved together was also thought-provoking, but what's interesting is that in comparison, from what I've read elsewhere, cats haven't evolved hardly at all. They've changed the least of all the domestic animals -- in fact, some authors seem to imply that they're only barely domesticated.

[Ladyhawk]

3. Yeah, I've always thought of cats as rather wild.

They do what they want when they want...kind of like a parrot. :D Parrots are certainly not domesticated.

Back when I was breeding, I became concerned that parrots with severe behavioral problems often ended up in breeding situations. Instead of making parrots more likely to co-exist with us, we are making them less likely, in my opinion.

I knew a breeder back then who wanted to go the other way. He was focusing on Panama Amazons and kept only the smartest, tamest, best talkers. He was starting a project to domesticate the Panama Amazon. With foxes on fur farms, it took fewer generations than one would expect. I forget the number of generations (kicks self), but I saw it on a documentary entitled "The Wolf Within." It was about domesticated dogs. The fox segment merely showed that animals' genes can be manipulated fairly quickly to turn them into domesticated animals.

I've looked for this breeder whose name I forgot, but I can't find him anywhere. I believe he lived in Washington State and his aviary was called White Mountain Bird Ranch. I've done searches of all kinds, but I can't find him. If he has passed on, I hope someone has continued his work. If I were still a breeder, I think I would shoot toward domestication. Because parrots are slow to mature, the domestication process would take much longer. It probably can't be done within my lifetime, but I'd sure like to give it a try.

LH

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Amazing, but not surprising. The more I hear about parrots, the less

their abilities surprise me.

[undergroundpanther]

4. parrots cats dogs

they all can communicate to us..I really think the problem is our insistance on hearing them in OUR way.It limits how they can talk to us.

I don't know how I talk to cats I just do. For me it's mostly a speechless thing.I just know what they are saying to me.I talk back and they understand.

It's uncanny and happens way too often to be coincidence.

I truly believe humanity once saw animals as our own brothers and sisters and we all could talk with each other and saw each other as relatives in a big family.
Indians speak of little kids playing with wolf pups like kids in the neighborhood play together..The story goes..the human parents picked up thier kids from the wolf den ,they were there with mother wolf both kids and pups had painted up faces from a day of playing.. Animal mothers have been known to take in abandoned kids just like humans take in abandoned animal kids. It's this idea that man is somehow better or superior to animals that has broken us off from the heart connections we had with our animal kin.

[Kat45]

5. My parrot communicates to me in her own way.

She doesn't talk, but just using her own voice, its volume level, rhythm and tones, combined with her body language. She often lets me know what she wants/needs. I just have to make sure I'm paying attention.

[Darth_Kitten]

6. Hello prez and gracie!!

Murphee (my cockatiel) has a mind of her own.

Sometimes I tell her to "step up" and she won't necessarily do that until you say "please". :D

They know what they are doing. :)