The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N'kisi said: "Got a chimp?"
Pretty amazing. Full article in the main link.
If you haven't seen him, Einstein the parrot is also pretty smart.
I'm a bit skeptic about smart parrots.
ReplyDeleteThere was another smart parrot before N'kisi; Alex. Many scientists were skeptic about Alexs skills and she needed to start her own private foundation to fund her research.
Alex and N'kisi haven't been studied by other scientist and both researchers have some links with paranormal research.
Here is link about smart parrots from the skeptic dictionary: http://www.skepdic.com/nkisi.html
Both researchers also look way too much like greenpeace hippies ;) And one uses aromatherapy oils :|.
I could be a clever hans parrot.
The long and reasonable entry in the skeptic dictonary and the small amount of reproduction and confirment from other scientists make me doubt smart parrots for now.
Hmm, the telepathy claim hugely diminishes the credibility of her other experiments.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing that the BBC didn't mention the skeptics.
I do think parrots are pretty smart though, and that there's a good chance they can utilize and understand a little language.