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Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
BBC News On Line ^
| 2004/01/26
| Alex Kirby
Posted on 01/26/2004 8:36:46 AM PST by aculeus
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To: mindspy
The scientist who did that work (on dogs knowing when their owners are coming) is Rupert Sheldrake. He has a web site (but you knew that, right?).
http://www.sheldrake.org/index.html
101
posted on
01/26/2004 8:28:07 PM PST
by
aculeus
To: redhead
Where do you go about getting "owned" by an African Grey?
To: stands2reason
What an interesting thread!
My cats work as a team to wake me in the morning. Two are my daughter's cats who have recently come to live here, and one is the old cat we have had for years.
In the morning, when they think I am sleeping too late (6 AM) they come into the bedroom. The older cat will come onto the bed and pull my hair. The other two sit and watch as if egging him on.
I think animals do communicate. I wish I understood it more.
To: Miss Marple
"Boy" will come in and wake me up with a massage. Nice when I'm on my stomach, but I'm usually on my side. He's a big-- time kneader. He's a bic#y pain-in the a$$ like his father,(they even have the same scratchy/squeaky meow), but he always comes when you call him, and he's a big kiss-up when he gets in trouble. His father "Badger" used to be a big ball player. He'd play fetch, but preferred "catch" catching the ball in his paws and carrying it back to us to toss again.... he left us after helping impregnate our newly adopted "Maia" (along with a big orange tom) -- she used to attack him mercilessly, so I really can't blame him.
To: aculeus
I didn't know that. Thank you, I'll check it out.
105
posted on
01/26/2004 9:20:34 PM PST
by
mindspy
To: .30Carbine
You ought to read this article and the thread. Some truly amazing stories here.
106
posted on
01/26/2004 10:54:22 PM PST
by
TigersEye
(Regime change in the courts. Impeach activist judges!)
To: aculeus
107
posted on
01/26/2004 11:21:37 PM PST
by
FITZ
To: aculeus
So the bird like squawks, "Stop wondering about my feather flyin sex life!". So, like then they knew that the bird was like telepathic dude.
108
posted on
01/26/2004 11:26:48 PM PST
by
Snagglepuss
(Thoughts are things)
To: aculeus
When shown a picture of Howard Dean the said," He's the one that should be in a cage"!
To: aculeus
110
posted on
01/26/2004 11:31:57 PM PST
by
Don Joe
To: lawgirl
I have read quite a bit about the genius of the African Grey and I would love to have one if I had the time to keep it intellectually stimulated. But the thought of one of these feathered geniuses sitting home all day while I was gone is too sad. Maybe someday! Many of the larger parrots are thought to have the mental development of a 3-to-5-year-old human child. African Greys appear to be the most advanced. But there is a flip side. They are so intelligent that many wind up with destructive tendencies such as feather picking due to lack of stimulation. They also seem to go through a longer "childhood" being quite clumsy and fearful while very young. While great talkers, they often won't mimic any human words until they are a year old, frustrating owners who got them expecting them to speak right away. And most parrots love drama. That's why they pick up curse words so quickly. They are said emphatically, often with great emotion. The bird picks up on this and believes the words must be meaningful. Then when the bird shocks the owner with the swear words, the owners usually have a strong reaction (be it laughter, shock, whatever) which then reinforces to the bird that the word has an effect on people so it will use it even more often to amuse itself by saying the word and getting a reaction. I have a type of macaw which are not known to be great talkers but one benefit is I don't always have to watch what I say! :)
111
posted on
01/26/2004 11:47:42 PM PST
by
Tall_Texan
(Some day I'll have a rock-hard body - once rigor mortis sets in.)
To: Mr. Mojo
I read where one African Grey had to be removed from its home after it learned to mimic accurately, loudly and frequently, the sound of the dot matrix printer by the computer.
Parrots often want your attention so the mimicry of beeps and dings is part of the process. What do you do when the phone rings? You stop whatever you are doing and go to the phone to answer it. The bird thinks if it can ring like the phone, you'll come to the bird. What do you do when the microwave dings? You stop what you are doing and head right to the microwave. So the bird tries this noise too. There's a method to their madness.
I did hear of a Grey that was trained to ask visitors for their name. When a salesman came to call one day, the Grey asked him "What is your name?". The salesman ignored him. So the bird asked again, "What is your name?". Again, no response. A third time he asked but was ignored again. So the bird asked "What is your name, JERK?"
Our pet store has a Grey that does a dead-on smoker's hack, complete with neck jerks. Frequently, customers inform the sales clerks that they're worried the bird is sick. It's not - just putting on a show.
112
posted on
01/26/2004 11:59:54 PM PST
by
Tall_Texan
(Some day I'll have a rock-hard body - once rigor mortis sets in.)
To: StolarStorm
Same story in our home.
113
posted on
01/27/2004 12:16:05 AM PST
by
B4Ranch
( Dear Mr. President, Sir, Are you listening to the voters?)
To: martin_fierro
Yeah, and when they said it had the biggest English vocabulary of any animal. I guess they forgot we humans are animals too.
114
posted on
01/27/2004 12:18:58 AM PST
by
Fledermaus
(Democrats are just not capable of defending our nation's security. It's that simple!)
To: StolarStorm
That happens when you live with someone for a long time. Your brain anticipates.
My wife and I would say, almost at the same time, "lets go to X for dinner"...of course, we probably go there twice a month and it just comes up.
Usually on the same day.
Now, real telepathy is when she looks at me, reads my mind and says, "what did you just call me?" lol
115
posted on
01/27/2004 12:21:27 AM PST
by
Fledermaus
(Democrats are just not capable of defending our nation's security. It's that simple!)
To: Junior
Keep this parrot away from my pets. If he teaches them to talk I'll never get any rest.
To: Piltdown_Woman
Bumping and bookmarking.
117
posted on
01/27/2004 12:38:06 AM PST
by
TruthNtegrity
(I refuse to call candidates for President "Democratic" as they are NOT. They are Democrats.)
To: aculeus
bttfl
118
posted on
01/27/2004 1:16:42 AM PST
by
Cacique
To: sirshackleton
John John-John knows another word. It begins with "F".
119
posted on
01/27/2004 1:20:14 AM PST
by
weegee
To: millefleur
120
posted on
01/27/2004 1:29:22 AM PST
by
weegee
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