Posted on 04/21/2022 10:03:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Claire McCarthy's African Grey parrot Ruby picked up the famous yodel from pizza chain Domino's ad much to the delight of her owner and Domino's who offered McCarthy a discount on her next order.
This pizza-loving parrot has learned to mimic the yodel from the Domino's TV advert - with her pitch-perfect performance earning her proud owner a discount on her next order.
Claire McCarthy filmed 'mouthy' African Grey Ruby calling out 'Domino-hoo-hoo' from the ads that show customers yodelling to each other to signal that they want to order from the pizza chain.
After sharing Ruby's new talent on social media to friends' delight, the warehouse worker then contacted Domino's.
The pizza chain appeared to give the tribute their seal of approval by offering the 49-year-old a 50% off voucher that she's yet to cash in.
Claire has had Ruby and her brother Grey since they were six weeks old but admits that Ruby is far more outspoken than her sibling.
Claire, from Bexley, Greater London, said: "Ruby is the one who learnt the Domino's yodel - Grey doesn't talk very much.
"Ruby sings a few other little songs. She heard the Domino's one and within two days, she'd learnt it.
"She's very mouthy - you can have a row with her. It's funny because Grey barely even talks. The only thing he does shout is 'come on!'
"Ruby is definitely the mouthier of the two. I sent the video to Domino's and they contacted me to give me a 50% off voucher.
"They really enjoyed it. They messaged straight away and I've got a cheaper pizza out of it. I've not ordered one yet, but I have until the end of August."
According to Claire, boisterous Ruby is constantly picking up jingles and expressions, as she's also taken to 'chatting' to Amazon's cloud-based voice service Alexa.
Claire said: "Ruby picks a lot of stuff up. At the moment, all she's saying is 'Alexa', and I've set the Alexa to say 'Hi Ruby' back.
Ruby is known to annoy brother Grey, who McCarthy says is much quieter, by singing 'Grey loves his mummy' while Grey only really says 'Come on'
"She'll sing that James Blunt song 'You're beautiful'.
"She's not really learning any new adverts at the minute. They'll both whistle the McDonald's music - then she'll sing 'Grey loves his mummy', which he hates."
A spokesperson for Domino's said: "The Domino's yodel has been a smash hit since it launched last summer and we love hearing the great and good use it get their mates together to order a pizza.
"This is definitely the first of our feathered friends we’ve seen doing a yodel and huge thanks to Claire for sharing it with us. We hope you enjoyed your piping hot thank you pizza!"
African greys are the smartest in the parrot world and cna be dead-on mimickers. Knew one in a pet store who could do a smoker’s hack complete with neck jerks. Customers would go up to the staff and inform them “I think your parrot is sick”. If the cash register makes any repetitive noises, the greys will often mick that - or the phone ringing or the bell that’s used for the kitchen timer.
Many of them are frankly bored being in a cage most of the day so they pick up on any sound they think makes you stop and give attention because they think if they learn the noise, you’ll stop whatever you’re doing and come to them! I knew a grey who mimicked a dot matrix printer. They had to sell him.
My daughter loves birds, and has her two parakeets. Birds are great pets, but messy.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tRsfOGJ5lZg
The thing about parrots is their like children. They’re not parakeets or canaries you just can forget about. They need attention or they can start pulling their own feathers from stress.
Here’s one Cockatoo these people adopted for rescue, after living with a couple who got a divorce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcFEA0vSwgQ
His breast area is bald from feather-pulling.
Never heard of this yodel.
Guess i need to watch TV?
What birds do you keep?
Yes, then you have to start feeding them toner.
Source is “Wales Online,” might be British TV.
"then you have to start feeding themtoneran ink ribbon."
I had a parrot and who got chirpeez . . . It was a canarial disease that had no known tweetment.
Totally agreed about Greys. They are incredibly smart. I remember watching vids of Alex the Grey who could do all kinds of stuff, and definitely appeared to understand the concept of zero, which is a fairly abstract thing when you think of it. Unfortunately, he passed some years ago.
None at present. I used to own a yellow-collared macaw - they’re apartment-sized. They can still be noisy but you can limit that with some behavior modification and consistency.
Now I live in Panama and I am serenaded by outdoor birds from (before) sunrise to (after) sunset.
Alex was truly a marvel. Many things he learned because people would tell his owner “Oh, but I bet he can’t do...!” So, with teaching, he learned many concept thought unknown to birds like colors, shapes, sizes, etc. and use them correctly in sentences. He had a group of college kids teaching him all day, something most parrots can only dream of.
A friend of mine had an African Gray. They were constantly answering the doorbell or the phone or she would hear her husband calling her name. It was the bird every time.
And it worked everytime! Either the bird was starved for attention or it found a way to amuse himself since sitting in a cage all day can be boring!
Someone once described parents as a “three-year-old child with a can opener for a face”.
Make that “parrots”, not “parents”....but, then again,...
Indeed. They are very social animals, and thrive on attention. I thought the vids of him were truly fascinating. He wan't guessing or just 'parroting' the answers. It was pretty clear that he knew and understood some pretty complex things. I sometimes thing we vastly underestimate what animals are capable of. I'd really love to see more experimentation along these lines.
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