Parrot's oratory stuns scientists

BBC News On Line ^ | 2004/01/26 | Alex Kirby

[aculeus]

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.

N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.

N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.

He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.

One N'kisi-ism was "flied" for "flew", and another "pretty smell medicine" to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.

When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N'kisi said: "Got a chimp?"

He appears to fancy himself as a humourist. When another parrot hung upside down from its perch, he commented: "You got to put this bird on the camera." Dr Goodall says N'kisi's verbal fireworks are an "outstanding example of interspecies communication".

In an experiment, the bird and his owner were put in separate rooms and filmed as the artist opened random envelopes containing picture cards.

Analysis showed the parrot had used appropriate keywords three times more often than would be likely by chance.

Captives' frustrations

This was despite the researchers discounting responses like "What ya doing on the phone?" when N'kisi saw a card of a man with a telephone, and "Can I give you a hug?" with one of a couple embracing.

Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge's School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots."

Alison Hales, of the World Parrot Trust, told BBC News Online: "N'kisi's amazing vocabulary and sense of humour should make everyone who has a pet parrot consider whether they are meeting its needs.

"They may not be able to ask directly, but parrots are long-lived, and a bit of research now could mean an improved quality of life for years." © BBC MMIV

[michaelt]

"Some people have a way with words, others..........not have way?" - Steve Martin

[Junior]

Where's medved when you need him ...

[ArrogantBustard]

'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory!

[Johnny_Cipher]

Sounds like a very special young lady - my congratulations to you and yours. If you can keep a sense of humor, the rest of the battle truly is downhill.

[tiamat]

i came within an ace of buying a smart bird last year.... it was a conure. Little green guy.

I bent down to look at him and he asked me "Whatcha doin'?"

So I said , "Looking at you! "

"You looking at me?" , said the bird in an Al Pacino sort of voice.

i messed around with him for a bit, and then wandered over to the next set of cages, and just moments later, I hear this little voice, "Here, kitty kitty kitty! " and it's the conure, craning his head and staring at me and trying to get me to come back to play!

THAT boy knew EXACTLY what he was doing and saying!

If i had had 900 bucks, I'd have a green bird today!

Tia

[BadAndy]

Don't forget: Spam Spam Spam Spam...

[Jack Wilson]

The new Democratic front-runner?

[tiamat]

THANKS! ;-)

We are very blessed in this: she is affectionate ( a lot of autistic kids are not) and she has a sense of humor.

I tell people to think of her as being a couple of years younger than she actually is, and to think of her as being an "english as a second language" person.

Our family is pretty eccentric, so she fits in and is loved.

Tia

[bk1000]

Once I observed a parrot, or a macaw, I'm not sure which, in a pet store. He whistled a neat little tune. When I tried to whistle it back to him, he became a bit frustrated at my poor rendition, and proceeded to repeat the song SLOWER so that I might get it correct! One of the darndest things I ever saw. As a result, this story does not surprise me.

[millefleur]

One way some telepathy phenomena can be explained is by what the Bible calls "familiar spirits". In other words they are spirits that are familiar with a certain human and can communicate by interjecting words (thoughts) into the mind.
The Bible of course condemns encouraging this sort of interaction.
In the Old Testament there was an account of God causing a donkey to speak with an intelligible voice.

In this case a spirit could be at work with the parrot and the owner but not of God, simply to cause confusion and deception which God allows.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Our family is pretty eccentric, so she fits in and is loved.

One of my cousins had congenital hearing loss that went undiagnosed until he was four. After it was found and corrected, he went from speaking "Martian" to something approximating English but not quite. His diction continues to improve every day. So naturally, his nickname in the family is "My Favorite Martian."

And "eccentric" is a good thing. You're never alone, and you're never boring :)

[doc30]

My African Grey likes to squawk like my Quaker Parrot just so the Quaker will get in trouble for making to much noise. The Grey also yells at the cats when they start playing too rough. THis guy knows hundreds of words and, when he wants a treat, he asks for it by name. Give him something else and it gets dumped. When he is outside his cage, he has also learned how to unscrew the bolts holding it together. He has also learned how to open the food dish doors on the outside and make them look like they are shut so he can sneak out when we aren't looking. Several times I've come home from work to find the little guy on top of his cage with the door shut and secure and a slightly propped open food dish door. One day, I happened to catch him proping that dish door open. Very clever animal and definitely more intelligent than several people I know.

[#1CTYankee]

Lovely plumage, the Norwegian Blue ...

If you hadn't nailed him to the bloody perch he'd be push'in up daises!

[tiamat]

YES!

Kudos to YOU guys and your cousin!

Tia

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I can attest to birds being smart ... the Blue Jays born in my trees return to pick up broken Black Walnuts from the driveway, then fly up into the tree to find a suitable fork in limbs into which to place the halves so they can peck at the meat inside. When the meat is gone, they pick up the shell and toss it down, then go for another and return to their crook to extract the meat!

Try and top this one: some twenty years ago, my grandmother had a problem with birds flying down and gobbling up a row of seedlings in her vegetable garden. So she erected a fence to protect the seedlings from aerial attacks. So what did the birds do? They simply started walking along the row munching the seedlings!

[mcg1969]

I don't care how smart the bird is, I'll bet he tastes like chicken.

[Jack Black]

The crows in my neighborhood take the walnuts and drop them onto the road (the cul de sac, no less) to break them open. Very interesting behavior.

[aruanan]

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

My brother had an African grey. It was awesome.

[KarlInOhio]

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

Pull N'kisi's talon, pull N'kisi's talon. Squawk.

[Brett66]

They should get his DNA and mix it with other genius birds, creating a super-genius species of parrots that could take over the world.