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 LMAO,  I was wondering why the cat and plastic ball looked so tiny.

ADDED IN:


 This particularly home fim of "Riley" the ecclectus Parrot although tough to tolerate
for more than about 30 seconds was very unique because I think in this film,  The Parrot was teaching "The Human" how to talk  :shock:    Poor bird,  having to be around that voice all day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMx10BUgzEM


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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

There's actually a lot of literature that can be found regarding Alex and Dr Irene Pepperberg.  Same time each day, Alex pulls a chain or lever to watch his favorite TV program (I think it happens to be a soap opera),  he refers to a banana as "long yellow", and asks for it accordingly when he's in the mood to eat one...He puts different shaped blocks correctly into the appropriately shaped holes...

This is a well known and documented animal behaviour/ avian intelligence ongoing study. I was glad to actually be able to view excerpts of it.

I actually searched specifically for it as well.  I've read about Alex for years.

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

From www-PBS-Org:

While parrots are social animals, this does not guarantee that they will become chatty pets. According to Dr. Irene Pepperberg, whose African Grey parrot, Alex, demonstrates his knowledge of shapes and colors on NATURE, "some parrots simply will not learn human speech, and owners need to accept that possibility."

Pepperberg has not had that problem with Alex, however. Since 1977, she has successfully taught Alex to verbally identify a number of objects. While some cynics claim that Alex could simply have been taught a script, Pepperberg contends that the controls and tests she uses make it impossible for him simply to recite words when she asks questions. He must understand labels and objects to answer her questions, she explains. Since PARROTS: LOOK WHO'S TALKING was produced, Alex has become tutor to another parrot named Griffin, teaching him to identify colors and objects. Another of Dr. Pepperberg's parrots, Kyaaro, has learned numbers.

Dr. Pepperberg says that the birds constantly boss around the lab staff by asking for different treats and toys, and asking to be tickled. "Alex requests showers," she adds. To help support her research at the University of Arizona, Dr. Pepperberg has established The Alex Foundation.

Alex Foundation
http://www.alexfoundation.org/index2.htm

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

omg too funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTXQnt0q ... ed&search=

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

 LMAO  LMAO

There are many with that very bird on you tube.  Those were the movies I was referring too...  


Those are funny,  but I started thinking (and I might be WAY off base, and hope I am) and became somewhat concerned when I considered, "What's going to happen if/when the owner of the bird grows up, and get's sick of the birds special vocabulary" ?    I guess I'm afraid that that bird might ultimately end up harmed or unwanted because of what some clown decided to teach him...  Dunno.  Reason being, (and again I might by incorrect) that it's my understanding that once a Parrot learns to talk, the owner of the bird is stuck with the birds vocabulary for perhaps 60+ years.

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

That's the proud owner of the bird that can articulate the following question.

"Are you a lesbian ?"  LOL

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrCSdefy ... ed&search=
In the #4 segment, it shows how talented the ****er is! ! AND what a handful such a pet would be that needs that sort of attention... granted, they get that attention when they are taught to speak phrases... and then folks biyatch how much attention they require later! !

ummm I think what you fail to see is the abomination the owner would be to live with..the bird is merely aping his phrases...can you imagine a more bigotted ignorant man?

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

That's an African Grey.  According to my friend that owns one, they are the smartest parrots and can quickly learn sounds, songs, words, whatever.  I have heard his grey sound so much like the cell phone that people in the store start checking theirs.  At Christmas he sings carols - lots of them.  When the phone rings you can hear him say 'Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas.'  He'll tell you how much he loooooves Judy Garland and how much he hates Gary from the store.  He's a riot.

yeah they are very very cool birds

_________________
"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Not just the man.  How about the guys wife who spent hours training the bird to say those things while the guy was off it work trying to make a living


Seriously though,  My concern is for the bird *IF* this guy in fact grows up, for some bizarre reason DOES in fact meet a female and wants to settle down, who will take a bird that mimics such content ?  When people no longer want their pets, or can take care of them, it's not often easy to find homes for them regardless of how cute their mimicry and noises might be.  What if this guy even gets sick of hearing *his own* words repeated in time ?  The bird might pay the price. (This is my concern), granted, this is hilarious on the surface, it DOES have me cracking up too, it *IS* funny, and perhaps should be viewed no further than "the surface", but realistically,  The bird's innocent of only repeating what it hears.  This particular bird has no concept of what  "Are you a Lesbian" means,   or what "Shut the %&(# up" means.   I just hope the guy treats this bird well, because these two are stuck with one-another for a LONG time.  This is content he will likely be hearing the rest of his life.  These birds live our life-span, even longer, and I'm not sure how easily they forget what they learn to mimic.  I'm afraid if the guy outgrows this stuff,  the bird will become the victim of it.

Milo,  any idea if a bird can be easily retrained to repeat things ?  Can they forget older content that they heard and learned to repeat at a certain age ?   Might this bird be repeating this content for 60 more years ?   IF-so, I'm concerned about what will in time happen to this bird if no longer wanted because of the content it was taught to mimic.


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_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

,  That's cute.   What I like about the study Dr. Irene Pepperburg is doing at the University with these birds, is that it's showing that what was once believed to be ONLY mimicry, CAN in fact be comprehension.  So not just are these smart birds capable of repeating phrases, but they are also capable of understanding the meaning of the content (to a limited degree) and communicating with their owners associating words and phrases with actual meanings.  Like a young child.  If the owner of the Parrots (even Parrotlets) takes some time to teach the bird that the words have meanings,  the bird might be able to learn what it' saying, and ask for a banana as a "Long Yellow".   Alex (Pepperburgs) CAG Parrot has learned to do just that.  When he wants a banana to eat, he asks for a "long Yellow'.

On the flip side however,  birds of this type ALSO mimic the phone ringing,  door hinges screeching, and toilets flushing  LOL


Not sure if it's known which are smarter birds...  The Mulican Cockatoo's, Larger Macaws, or African Grey Parrots.  Even the smaller birds can talk.  I think it's believed the the Grey's have the greatest capacity for mimicry, but I don't know if studies have yet been done with these other species of parrot.  I had a little budgie that talked, and was extremely smart !   I miss that little bird a lot !  unbelievably smart !  Came when called, knew her name, and got really jealous and used to dive-bomb females that I had over when we were in the living room talking..  She'd get between me and them, stand on my shoulder, and start pecking at my lips to try to get my attention,  she REALLY got jealous of other females that came into my condo... and wanted attention when they were over..  I never knew such behaviour was possible from such a little thing,  but these are smart animals.  In order for a person to realize just how smart a bird can be,  they really need to spend some time around one.  They can be however VERY costly pets over time, and they do take A LOT of your time.  You need to be patient with them,  and in time they do bond with their owners.  Amazing little critters !


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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

well, it's been myyyyy experience that if they pick up something you'd like for them to forget....they won't...and if you really, really want them to learn something...they won't...   there have been many times when sabra has only said one word or phrase just once....i remember one night we had company over and i woke her up so i could show her off....after a while she said 'i want to go to sleep now' and crawled back in her cage and shut the door behind her...i couldn't get her to repeat that to save my life...

as for the other bird i guess the only thing a new owner could try would be to completely ignore the bird when he says those phrases and give him lots of attention when he says the 'proper' thing.....mightttt work

my youngest son has the most unbelievable burp in the world...i'm talking breaking the sound barrier....well guess who picked that up?....and she repeated it constantly because everyone would crack up hysterically when she did....she would literally burp and laugh for hours as long as someone was there to enjoy it....did i say 'enjoy'?  

have you seen riley yet?  he's great!  

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PSXSOEiv3N0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RMx10BUgzEM

not sure which is the smartest, as you said, it's uncanny how smart all birds can be....my vote is for the african grey....did you know that alex is actually teaching another grey what he knows?  and remember me telling you about that special on tv where the grey had psychic abilities?  

the african grey is considered to be the best talker though with the eclectus being second best (riley is an eclectus)...

, cute !




Well,  this is how ALL species learn.    I picked the talent up from my father too !
"It's a guy thing"  LMAO  



Riley is amazing.  But I can't stand listening to the repeated squawking voice
of his owner.  I hope Riley can finally teach her a thing or two !  



Yep,  Alex is now a "tutor" to other birds.  What's interesting is that MOST animals have higher developed communication, and understanding in areas *we* currently consider *psychic*.  In fact I have a book called *psychic pets*.  Thing is MOST animals are "stronger" (given their size,ie..Chimps are roughly 7X stronger than humans), OR,  have faster reflexes... better senses of smell,  vibration, hearing of certain frequencies, visual abilities (such as cats with their visual purple) etc...  
Sure humans have certain abilities.  But so do other critters.  

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Don't Whales have an ultrasonic frequency that can travel in water for about 1000 miles ?   Pretty amazing !!   (What I mean is detected by other whales over what we consider to be an amazing distance)

This is interesting.
http://www.worldkids.net/critters/endangered/whales.htm

I like the conclusion stated in this article too.  It's not afraid to state "We don't know" regarding exact measuring of whale intelligence.  How can *we* know ?
Any species observing human behaviour might come to the conclusion WE aren't quite as intelligent a species as we like to think we are.  LOL




So they REALLY are alot like young kids  LOL

Matt is correct about the attention seeking behaviour.  I actually never considered this, and having had birds I SHOULD have. and in ALL cases too.   I was treating the mimicry and learned pattern behaviour as *only* mimicry for the sake of mimcry.  I never considered anything beyond sheer mimicry in MOST cases.  Although I do realize they have the ability to learn association, I just never thought about this area in 90% of the cases even with the Greys behaviour.  So if they CAN relearn this is good !!

Milo,  You answered this a few years back,  I don't recall the answer..  Studies regarding intelligence in CAG, verses Timneh Grey ?

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

...about the only difference is the physical characteristics, i think they have the same talking abilities and smarts...

How'd you get the little guy to appear as an emoticom ?


I just figured out how.  This has got to be the third or fourth cute critter I borrowed from you.  The snoozing cat I recall, there were others however

Well not really borrowed,  I sort've just stole them

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

here's some more that you can steal....errrrrrrr....borrow    LMAO








thot you might like the parakeets....i'm going to upload some pics of mine in my gallery...i'll let you know when they're up  

i always wished i could be like dr. doolittle while growing up....heck i still do...wouldn't it be great if we could actually communicate with all animals?

speaking of which....

http://www.koko.org/world/signlanguage.html