Parrots are famous for their unique ability to imitate human speech. But some birds can imitate more speech than others.
Kiwi the parakeet is a good example of this. Kiwi is so clever that he can even activate Siri and have full conversation.
Parrots with speech abilities like Kiwi are just incredible to watch in action.
Birds are the only animals that can imitate human speech. According to Audubon, crows, mynah birds, ravens, and parrots are the best when it comes to speaking human.
These kinds of birds have even given TED Talks, can speak in multiple languages, and have fronted heavy metal bands. But parrots are the pros.
Birds can imitate humans by hearing them and imitating what they hear because of something in their brains referred to as the “song system.”
Duke University neuroscientist and vocal learning expert Erich Jarvis found that a parrot’s song system has an inner core and an outer shell.
She believes the shell, unique to parrots, is why they’re so good at people talk.
She doesn’t know exactly howm though. What is known about why parrots imitate humans is that they do so to try and fit in.
Parrots are known to use their vocal abilities to share information with other parrots while in nature in an effort to assimilate into the flock.
Being a part of a flock is necessary for birds because they can’t search for food and predators at the same time. These responsibilities are shared within a flock. Parrots can even learn and distinguish dialects.
When Yellow-naped Amazon Parrots in Costa Rica swap regions the transplants will pick up the regional parrot dialect. Isn’t that wild?
So, parrots who learn to speak human are just trying to integrate themselves. While parrots can speak and can have some associations with words, they don’t usually understand the complex meanings of words.
But that can change with some training, like Waldo the African Grey Parrot who was trained to identify his favorite foods and ask for them
“We got him dehydrated banana chips, and he pieced it together and called them ‘banana crackers’ on his own. It’s a little creepy,” his dad Blake Harrison told Vice.
Kiwi must have been trained well because she knows how to activate to Siri.
Her conversation with the AI was recorded on video and posted on YouTube where it was viewed more than 2.4 million times.
“Hey Siri,” Kiwi tells an iPhone, followed by a tweet. “Yes, you Siri.”
Siri gets Kiwi’s command, but things get lost in translation after that. Kiwi does some pecking at the phone’s glass screen before having a full-on conversation with Siri.
But a lot of it was gibberish until Kiwi asked Siri to tell her about “parakeet,” “chicken” and “birds.”
Kiwi is asking the big questions about who he is and what his place is in the universe — and it’s hilarious to see. What a clever bird.
Check out the video of Kiwi talking with Siri below!
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Source: Kiwi and Pixel the Parakeets, Audubon
