Painting of parrot: the claudia moss galleries

Dogs can bark, cats can meow, chimps can even use sign language, to communicate with us. Communication that falls outside of human language is complex and diverse, from the waggle dance of honey bees (video) to the chemical communication of  plants and trees (article). But there is something marvelous about a non-human creature that can speak to us with language, with our own language, with human language. To hear human words curling from a bird's tongue is entrancing. But do those words mean anything? Or is it just mimicry? Is there intent and/or emotion behind a parrot's words and actions?


Pet parrot saves choking toddler

Willie, a pet Quaker parrot in the Denver, CO area, is being credited with saving 2 year old Hannah Kuusk's life. The toddler was choking on a pop tart when the parrot began screaming and repeated the words "mama baby" over and over. The toddler's caregiver was able to respond to the warning and save the 2-year-old's life. Read the full news story, with video, here.


Pensive parrot

Another parrot in the news is Fred, from Somerset England, who has had to be put on antidepressants because of depression after his owner died.

Helen Dance said the death nine months ago of her husband, George, who had raised the parrot from a chick, took a heavy toll on Fred, an African Grey parrot, The Sun reported Thursday.

Dance said experts told her the parrot seemed to be suffering from a deep depression because he could not understand George Dance's sudden absence. The widow said Fred had bitten off all of his neck feathers and spent most of the day bobbing his head up and down.

However, she said the bird seems to be coming out of his inner darkness now that he's on a twice-daily liquid form of Prozac designed for birds, known as Clomical.

Read the entire United Press International article.

Parrot perspicacity

Stories about just how smart birds are abound. There's also fascinating scientific evidence delineating how bird intelligence works.

Alex the parrot, probably the most famous parrot ever, died this year at 31. Dr. Irene Pepperberg bought Alex from a pet store in 1977. He subsequently became a research subject for scientists at Harvard. The scientists were amazed by his ability to learn language. He could differentiate colors and shapes and knew more than 100 words. . The New York Times wrote:

Alex showed surprising facility. For example, when shown a blue paper triangle, he could tell an experimenter what color the paper was, what shape it was, and — after touching it — what it was made of. He demonstrated some of his skills on nature shows, including programs on PBS and the BBC. He  shared scenes with the actor Alan Alda on the PBS series "Look Who’s Talking."

Alex's last words to Dr. Irene Pepperburg were, 'You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.'


You can read about the remarkable relationship Alex had with Dr. Pepperburg in  Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence — and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene Pepperburg

And here's an interview with Dr. Pepperburg at Scientific America.

Parrots in folktales and legend

Parrots feature in folk tales and legends from around the world. One I particularly like is The Parrot That Talked Too Much.

Kamadeva, the handsome Hindu god of love, rides a parrot as he wields his famous bow and arrows. The bow is made of sugarcane and strung with honeybees while his arrows are five flower tipped shafts of desire that overcome the five senses.

Shuka Saptati, also known as Seventy Tales of the Parrot and as Parrot Speak, is a collection of stories originally written in Sanskrit in which a parrot tells 70 stories in order to prevent a woman from pursuing a disastrous course of action. Full of erotic and taboo material, it was compiled in the 6th century AD by an unknown author. It was translated into Persian during Ala-ud-din Khilji's time (1296-1316). It was later translated into Turkish, German and French and finally into English.

Pretty Polly, the Appalachian folk tale, is a cautionary tale in which a woman named Pretty Polly is persuaded against her better judgment to go to visit three men she knows of limited acquaintance. When she protests that she will not be able to find the way, they promise to leave a trail of ashes for her to find her way. They tell her that if they are not there when she arrives she is to go right in and help herself to the plentiful food they will leave on the table. She follows the trail of ashes, finds that they are not at home, goes in and helps herself to the food. She finds a severed hand in her food, and realizes just what type of food she is eating and that they want to murder her. A talking parrot warns her about losing her heart's blood. Polly hides just before the men return home and while she is hiding another severed hand lands right beside her. It is that of her cousin and Polly is present while this woman is murdered, before she escapes with the help of the parrot, and exposes the men.