N'Kisi: The Genius Parrot

[jadote]

A parrot living in New York has been observed inventing his own words, making humourous comments and displaying a vocabulary of 950 words.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3430481.stm

[Radical Edward]

hey it's George Bush's speech writer.

[fafalone]

don't insult parrots like that!@!

 

jk die hippy

 

parrots are cool. we have a bunch of them that fly around our campus.

[iglak]

wow, that's amazing though

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I want a parrot like that! (as long as he understands "SHUT UP! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M ON THE PHONE?")

[-Demosthenes-]

I bet it's just trained to do that.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Did you read the article? He adapts to different situations, and makes his own phrases. Even if he was trained, he'd still be a genius.

[Pinch Paxton]

Yeah he's a genius parrot. I hope it's on TV soon.

 

Pincho.

[Kylon]

Although much genius is not genetic, I think that person should selectively breed that parrot. If we selectively breeded parrots to become more and more intelligent, there would be another species on this planet that would have high enough intelligence to actually converse with. Instead of filling our highschools with druged out humans, we could fill our schools with super intelligent parrots.

 

I know this sounds far fetched, but I would(along with hundreds of thousands of other people) probably 10-50k for a parrot that had the intelligence of an average 20 year old man, and with the increasing of drug and alcohol use, and the relatively untapped potential of the parrot, making a parrot like that would not be hard.

 

A lifelong companion parrot, live 90 years. Not smart enough humilate the average man, not frightening enough to scare the average woman. Everybody's happy.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

But then people will say, "hey! You're a parrotosexual!"

Making them another sentient species would be hard. Especially with all the things you'd have to give them. They'd make unions and start rebellions since they're not let out of their cages.

[Guest Xakana]

I live with a Congo African Grey. Frankly and first off, you do not lock them in cages. A cage is a roost, a bedroom and not a prison. My grey's door is never even shut. Second, all Greys have the potential of N'Kisi, he has just had a better opportunity than many who are bought by ignorant people who just want a decoration or a 'pet' (caring for a parrot correctly is almost the same as caring for a child--they are always at the maturity level of a two-year-old). The debate on whether parrots mimic is held almost exclusively by people who do not share their lives with any or who have chosen to treat the animal like a mimic. They do not mimic, they know what they're saying as anyone who pays any attention could tell you. I also have a red-bellied parrot who uses several words and phrases in context (she's only a year old). Though her speech will never be as clear as my Grey's, that is due to her sphyrinx (parrot voice box), not her intelligence. But much faster than a human child, she began speaking at only four months old and has a larger vocabulary than a human of her age.

 

Then the question would be "Why doesn't every parrot speak then?" My answer--why should they when no one really listens?

 

Sorry if my post sounds a little harsh, but this topic is full of ignorant (not stupid, unknowing) comments that I felt needed to be addressed.

 

~Xak

[coquina]

I live with a Congo African Grey. Frankly and first off, you do not lock them in cages. A cage is a roost, a bedroom and not a prison.

 

First off - I like your attidude - you do not speak of the parrot as a "pet". You regard it as a "non-human companion". Yes, parrots are very intelligent, and they are built to fly - they have a very high metabolism. Caging them and keeping them confined makes them neurotic, if not downright psychotic.

 

I have stated before that I don't think people give animals anywhere near enough credit for their intelligence. If people who live with animals spent as much time trying to learn their communication systems as they do trying to force human language on them, they would have a much more enjoyable relationship.

[Mart]

Good stuff, Xakana. I'm reluctant getting a parrot because I don't know how to treat them so that I'm not acting cruelly. What are the minimum requirements - space, temperature, food. Do you have any good links?

[calbiterol]

I live with a Congo African Grey. Frankly and first off, you do not lock them in cages. A cage is a roost, a bedroom and not a prison. My grey's door is never even shut.

 

I, like Coquina, really like the way you talk about them - not as a pet, rather as a non-human companion.

 

I have a question though - did you ever have to worry about pottytraining it? Cause that could be a pain to clean up...

[Newtonian]

Good stuff, Xakana. I'm reluctant getting a parrot because I don't know how to treat them so that I'm not acting cruelly. What are the minimum requirements - space, temperature, food. Do you have any good links?

This is something giving you the basics hope it helps

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/soenke.stollenmaier/petparrotkeeping.htm

[Nevermore]

http://ctct.essortment.com/pottytrainbird_ryze.htm

[Coral Rhedd]

I love your post! Some thoughts:

 

I live with a Congo African Grey. Frankly and first off' date=' you do not lock them in cages. A cage is a roost, a bedroom and not a prison. My grey's door is never even shut.

 

[b']All children/parrots should be allowed to safely explore their environments.[/B]

 

Second, all Greys have the potential of N'Kisi, he has just had a better opportunity than many who are bought by ignorant people who just want a decoration or a 'pet' (caring for a parrot correctly is almost the same as caring for a child--they are always at the maturity level of a two-year-old).

 

People should think carefully before they acquire them whether they will be able to meet their health requirements, both emotional and physical. (Applies to children and parrots and dogs, etc.)

 

The debate on whether parrots mimic is held almost exclusively by people who do not share their lives with any or who have chosen to treat the animal like a mimic. They do not mimic, they know what they're saying as anyone who pays any attention could tell you.

 

Chances are that, like children, they mimic initially in order to learn. It's practice and should be responded to in a way that stimulates additional conversation and learning.

 

Then the question would be "Why doesn't every parrot speak then?" My answer--why should they when no one really listens?

 

This is the tragedy that both humans and animals so often face. Being really heard is a moment of true grace.

 

~Xak

 

I hope no one is offended by my comments equating parrots with children. In fact children are often not heard. When we ignore the needs of others we diminish ourselves and them, parrots included.

[Coral Rhedd]

What no one really picked up on in the link in the OP is that the parrot has psychic ability.

 

Agree?

 

Disagree?

 

Not enough evidence?

[coquina]

As to the telepathy bit, surely you have seen a big flock of birds all turn instantiously - I think this is because they sense a change in air pressure, but, for whatever reason, they are obviously acutely aware of their surroundings. They probably pick up clues that we aren't, and maybe cannot be, aware of, including minute changes in air pressure. They may be able to hear out of our range, and some organisms can even see into the ultraviolet or infrared spectrums.

 

At one point my daughter had a pair of eclectus parrots. The males are green and the females are red. They were already named "Brocolli" and "Scarlet" when she got them. I thought they should have been called "Port" and "Starboard" after the colors of a ships navigation lights.

 

Anyway - she let them out of their cages frequently. Although she gave them cuttlebones they chewed wood. Brocolli died after he dined on the window sill.

 

After that, we let Scarlet out of her cage when we were in the room and could watch her. Then she learned to open the cage door on her own. Early one morning, she got out, and by the time we got up she had chewed a hole right through the door of one of the bottom kitchen cabinets and was nesting in there.

 

She left the nest, and an inquisitive kitten went in through the hole. It's tail was sticking out, and Scarlet saw it. She grabbed hold of it with her teeth. The cat was trapped, it didn't have room to turn around and come out face first, and it wouldn't back out. You have never heard such a commotion in your life - the cat was yowling, the parrot was screaming. We came running and it took a good bit of effort to dislodge the bird without hurting her. I was beginning to think she was like the old wives tale about snapping turtles - they won't let go til it thunders.

 

Needless to say - that cat learned a hard lesson about parrots - whenever she was out, it ran and hid.

[Coral Rhedd]

As to the telepathy bit' date=' surely you have seen a big flock of birds all turn instantiously - I think this is because they sense a change in air pressure, but, for whatever reason, they are obviously acutely aware of their surroundings. They probably pick up clues that we aren't, and maybe cannot be, aware of, including minute changes in air pressure. They may be able to hear out of our range, and some organisms can even see into the ultraviolet or infrared spectrums.

[/quote']

 

Loved the story about the kitten and the parrot.

 

In the link about N'kisi, it said that the parrot's owner was taken to another room and looked at pictures on cards. The parrot had great accuracy at verbalizing what the owner was actually looking at.

 

I don't think the parrot is a scammer in this instance and it sounds like a rather controlled experiment. Not much chance of cheating. A flock of parrots being able to turn together in flight is one thing. Being psychic about pictures on cards is a little different. We are talking about psychic interspecies communication.

 

I wonder if someone might comment about. Maybe comment on whether the experiment seems like a valid one?

[coquina]

Sorry - I scanned the link about telepathy - didn't read it closely enough.

I really don't know what to think about it.

 

The first comment I would make is that the cards were more complicated than they should have been. There should have been only one object that the bird knew the name for, on each card. Instead of a man talking on the telephone, there should have just been a picture of a telephone. That way there would have been no room for interpretation about what the bird perceived its owner saw on the card.

 

As a matter of fact, since speech has nothing to do with telepathy, that part should have been left out.

 

The bird should have been trained to pick up a card in its beak when it heard the name said. Then, it should have been trained to match the card the owner held up with both of them in the room. The parrot's set of cards should have been laid out on a table and it should have been trained to pick up the matching card in its beak by following a very concise instruction that it could understand with its vocabulary - something like "same card". When it was able to match the cards successfully with the owner in the room, then the owner should have been put in a separate room. The owners voice should have been recorded saying "same card" when she was not looking at a card at all. That way, if she had a different inflection in her voice when she was looking at the picture of a telephone, than that of a cat, the parrot wouldn't have the opportunity to pick up on it.

[Coral Rhedd]

Hi Sandi,

 

I missed this reply when you first posted it. You're right. The experiment would have been much more definitive if it had been constructed as you propose.