rivercrow

My friend Kuranes sent me a BBC News story on an African Grey parrot with an outstanding contextual vocabulary and an obvious sense of humor.

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.

Kuranes no doubt chuckled as he sent this to me. Every time we’ve spoken on the phone, he’s been entertained by an ongoing background chatter from our African Grey and my amazed comments about her vocalizations. She comments on the activities of the other inhabitants of the house, makes contextually-aware noises (zipper sounds when my husband brings out his work bag, and tries to blame her less attractive racket on Bernice the cockatiel.

For example, the Grey makes her imitation of a giant cockatiel on steriods (a call sound way louder than any ‘tiel could make).

“Hey, Ooii, shhh,” one of us says.

“Bernice,” Ooii replies.

Uh, yeah.

I’m always amused at how arrogant we humans are when it comes to communication and intelligence. Consider Alex, with whom Irene Pepperberg has worked for over 30 years. Although Pepperberg’s findings have been widely available for many years, still reporters generate articles expressing amazement at parrots’ intelligence.

Examples of bird intelligence are everywhere. Parrots, corvids, and other species regularly make and use tools–some will even carry tools with them to save time. Many of the more “intellectual” species are highly social; societies work more smoothly if members can communicate. Humor in human interactions eases our conflicts and disagreements; why would the same not be true for highly-social parrots?

Right now, Ooii is playing a new favorite game with me. “Peekaboo!” she says, and peers at me from behind a toy. It’s hard to resist.

More information on Alex:
“That DAMN Bird!”
A Thinking Bird, or Just Another Birdbrain?
African grey parrot is first bird to comprehend numerical concept akin to zero
The Alex Foundation

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