Of all the animals on earth, only two species can speak. One of which is human and the other is bird. These include parrots, mynas, and some species of crows. However, parrots and mynas sound like human beings. But
the question may arise as to why these birds can speak exactly like
humans where other close to us primate species such as monkeys,
gorillas, chimpanzees cannot speak.
Parrots can learn a tone of voice that they try to grasp when they hear it and try to imitate it over and over again. Although other species of birds are able to mimic sound more or less, parrots are the most efficient.
Eric Jarvis, a neuroscientist and vocal learning expert at Duke University, recently published a study on his Plus One where he explains the point. Any talking bird has a part of its brain that is only used to mimic speech. This part is called "Song System". But in the case of parrots, this "song system" has two levels. One is the internal "core" which is present in almost all vocal learner birds and the other is the external "shell" which is present only in parrots. Jarvis thinks that this recently discovered "shell" makes parrots more efficient at imitating humans. Although it is not known at all how this "shell" actually works.
But why do they say or imitate the words of the people? The answer is "peer pressure". It has been revealed that parrots naturally try to adapt to other parrots or humans.
Irene Pepperberg, a research associate and part-time lecturer at Harvard University, says that in the wild, parrots communicate importantly with other members of their flock by demonstrating their vocal prowess. Pepperberg has become world-famous for uncovering the intelligence of his African gray parrot, Alex. The parrot named Alex was in his lab for about 30 years. Although the bird died in 2006.
Parrots are also able to learn and use a variety of languages. Costa Rica's yellow-necked Amazon parrot has the ability to use regional dialects. And if their area is changed, they also imitate the regional tone. Tim Wright, a researcher who studied the voice of parrots at New Mexico State University, found this in his research.
So when a parrot is kept in a human home, it will begin to think of itself as a member of its flock and to mimic human voices in order to adapt to its surroundings.
Pet parrots have all the time, enthusiasm and mental capacity needed to learn a language. On the other hand, wild parrots do not get close to humans to learn to speak. So they can't even talk. Parrots depend on each other in the wild to learn what to do. But when they are with people, they imitate people's voices to attract people's attention.
Yet the question remains, do these birds really know what they are saying? In the case of parrots, talking can be an accompaniment but it has no complex meaning. That means they have no idea what they are talking about. They can only imitate. For example, when the owner enters the house, the parrot says "Hello! How are you?" Then understand that parrots are not at all worried about your being good or being bad. He is just saying what his master taught him. And it will be said by any person entering the house except the owner. To the parrot "Hello! How are you?" The meaning is a lot like this: "Oh! Someone broke into the house". Parrots, however, can talk by imitating human feelings of joy, anger, excitement, etc.
Pepperberg began training his parrots rigorously after completing his PhD. The bird listened and watched as the researchers identified the parrot's favorite objects and exchanged them with each other. "If parrots are properly trained, they can understand what they are saying," he said.
Towards the end of his life, Alex learns to recognize about 50 different objects, seven colors and six shapes. He could also count from one to eight. He could tell at once how many popsicles he had and how many wooden trays he had. He would tell if he saw two objects as one or the other and big or small.
Although parrots seem to be very talented, it should be noted that many other animals use different words to communicate and search for food. Whether he can talk or not. This is a very important aspect for the survival of any animal. But we only care more about parrots because that's what we understand when they talk.