It may be a new advance in the study of the intelligence of parrots or perhaps it is a new candidate for the Ig Nobel Prizes (more or less scientific research that “makes you laugh and think”)… Although it cannot be ruled out that be an original method to sell training courses for parrots and tablets (tablets, laptops).
Let’s go by parts. The basis of this possible news is found in the publication in the newspaper of proceedings of a conference on computer systems (see details in the exploded view) held in Hamburg (Germany) from April 23 to 28 of a 16-page article ( accompanied by photographs and videos) signed by four researchers or professors from Northeastern University (Boston, USA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom) and the private center Parrot Kindergarten (USA).
The authors present the results of a test in which they claim to have verified the interest and ability of parrots trained at Parrot Kindergarten to maintain contact with other members of their genus (parrots of various species) through video calls. The most curious thing about this test is that the parrots have used the tablets specially designed by this company to establish contacts by themselves, that is, make the video call and hold conversations (if we are allowed the expression) with specific peers through the application Facebook Messenger.
The authors explain the reason and scope of their work with these words (full text of the published abstract, unofficial translation):
“Over 20 million parrots are kept as pets in the US and often lack adequate stimuli to meet their high social, cognitive, and emotional needs. After reviewing bird perception and literature on the agency [Parrot Kindergarten], we developed an approach to allow parrots to participate in video calls with other parrots.”
“Following a pilot experiment and an expert survey, we conducted a three-month study with 18 pet birds to assess the potential value and ease of use of a parrot-parrot video calling system. We evaluated the system in terms of perception, agency , engagement and overall perceived benefits”
“With 147 bird calls, our results show that:
1) all birds used the system,
2) most of the birds exhibited high motivation and intentionality
3) all keepers reported perceived benefits, some possibly life-transforming, such as learning to forage for food or even flying by watching others.”
The full published article is available from the ACM Digital Library.
