A parrot cannot be confused with another bird. However, it may only seem, because they are found, for the most part, in the tropical and subtropical zones of the Southern Hemisphere. Currently, there are about 330 species of birds of the family of parrots, representing a huge variety of sizes, colors and habitats. For Europeans, they are exotic. Parrots are often kept at home, as many large species are very colorful, and some are quite "talkative". Why parrots talk is a matter of debate among scientists.
Instructions
Step 1
Nature has endowed parrots with unusual abilities - they can be taught to speak, or, as the overwhelming majority of scientists still believe, surprisingly accurately reproduce what they have heard. Parrots do not have vocal cords like humans, but they do have a so-called fork-shaped trachea. Sounds are formed when leaving the trachea, and their variety depends on its shape and the depth of passage of sound vibrations. In fact, this means that parrots do not speak, in the usual sense of the word, but whistle.
Step 2
Some believe that the "bird's tongue" is similar to the human language. The sounds of human speech, to a greater or lesser extent, are characteristic of parrots by nature - this similarity is the reason for the brilliant conversational abilities of some species.
Step 3
The vast majority of scientists believe that birds speak purely mechanically, simply by repeating the sounds they hear. And it turns out with them, because the tongue of parrots is similar to a human - it is quite large and thick. In response, one can argue that in some birds this organ has a different structure, but they can also be taught to pronounce at least a few words. On the other hand, in some birds of prey - hawk, falcon, the structure of the tongue is similar to the structure of this organ in parrots, but they do not speak.
Step 4
However, none of the scientists seriously studied the intelligence of parrots. The first to do this was the American Irene Pepperberg. Irene is studying two African gray parrots. On the basis of many years of observations, she concluded that the level of intelligence of these birds is surprisingly high. The community of a man and two parrots more and more successfully refutes the assertion that only man can think abstractly and communicate with each other.
Step 5
Irene argues that her parrots don't just repeat memorized words. For example, Alex the parrot recognizes 7 colors, 5 shapes of objects, operates with the concepts of "more", "less", "the same" and "different", counts up to 6, knows the names of 50 objects.
Step 6
No one can yet say for sure how parrots speak - they mechanically reproduce sounds or think abstractly, like people. In an interview with New Scientist magazine, Irene Pepperberg said: “In terms of emotional development, parrots are similar to spoiled two-year-olds, but Alex went much further intellectually. He is somewhere around chimpanzees and dolphins, he can do what they do. It's amazing. After all, chimpanzees are genetically 98.5% similar to humans, but birds, in an evolutionary sense, are in a completely different direction."
Step 7
Indeed, it is amazing, incomprehensible and exciting - people may have discovered amazing abilities in creatures they have known for a long time. Does Alex speak meaningfully as a human? Does he think? Nobody knows this yet. But, as Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Robert Seyfarth said: “Something is clearly going on in his head. But does he really think? Until people come up with better words - why not."
