Parrots and Other “Talking” Non-Human Species
Living things have many ways of communicating with each other. Body language is one of the most common. You use it all the time to express your feelings without saying a word. Not only do you use body language, either consciously or without even thinking about it, to let others know what you are feeling but you can also “read” other people’s body language so you often know what they are feeling or thinking, no matter what they are saying using words.
Of course, humans are not the only animals that can do this. Other animals constantly use body language to communicate with each other as well. If you have ever watched two dogs play, or prepare for a fight, you have seen the power of body language in expressing one animal’s thoughts to another. It can even help save an animal’s life.
Yes, the use of body language can aid survival. Often, one animal will “posture” or make threatening gestures as a means of scaring off another one. If one of the animals is intimidated enough, he or she may back off and avoid a physical encounter, thus preventing potential injuries to one or both individuals.
Vocalizations are another important form of communication for many animals. A hissing cat, or a rattlesnake shaking its tail for that matter, leaves little doubt about its intentions. Crickets chirping, birds and whales singing, and wolves howling are just a few other examples of the many ways that animals communicate with each other through vocalizations, both within species and between species.
If you are at all familiar with dogs, you can probably get a good idea of what a barking dog wants by the type of bark it uses. A “Let’s play” bark has an entirely different sound than a “This is my house and I am protecting my pack” bark. When a dog combines its “Let’s play” bark with the body language that says the same thing (the play bow, in which the dog bends down in front and leaves its rear legs straight up) there is no doubt that it is strongly communicating its desire to engage you in some fun.
But what about talking? Are humans unique in their ability to use language? Well, maybe that depends on how we define talking. If we define it a little more loosely than “using language the way humans do,” we can consider other forms of vocalizing as forms of talking.
Just for fun, let’s take a look at some of these other types of “talking.” Then you can decide for yourself how you want to define these vocalizations.
The results of a recently published study by scientists at the University of Georgia show that at least some kinds of parrots may not just be mimicking the sounds they hear; they may actually be using particular, specific phrases when they want particular things. By the way, the scientists are talking here about more than “Polly wants a cracker” if the bird is hungry! They’re talking about elements of real conversation.
For example, it appears that the parrot these scientists studied used expressions such as “Where are you?” or “I’m here” more often when its owner was in the next room as opposed to when its owner was in the same room or out of the house completely.
Did that parrot really know what it was saying? Was it actually asking its owner to rejoin him in the same room? Could it really select what it said according to whether its owner was in the same room, the next room, or out of the house completely? Click this link to read the article that summarizes these findings and decide for yourself. http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/110601_parrot.htm.
Did you know that only certain types of parrots have the ability to speak, or that some parrots with that ability for some reason never learn to use that skill? If you or someone you know is interested in owning a “speaking parrot,” you will want to learn more about the different species available. Here is a link to more information.
http://www.featherme.com/index.php/parrots-101/parrot-talking-skills/
What about other animal species? Are they able to “speak” in their own way? Consider dogs for example. Do any of them have the ability to mimic human words and say them on demand?
Have you ever seen “talking dogs” on TV? It seems that, every once in a while, someone makes a video or brings a dog on live TV that appears to say words like “Mama.” Are they really speaking?
Take a look at this video and see what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c8MMiytwNs&feature=email
Dogs do not have the physiological features in their mouths and throats to say words but they do seem to be “saying” things to us. Scientific American magazine published an article that looked into this subject.
What is really going on when a dog “talks back” to us? Why would dogs even try to “talk” to us? Take a look at the article to learn more about dog vocalizations
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-dogs-can-talk
Probably more animals communicate with each through “speaking” than you think. Studies on African elephants over the past several decades, for example, have shown that elephants also have remarkably complex communication, including the production of sounds that are too low in frequency for us to hear…but other elephants can hear them! Here’s link summarizing that research:
http://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-communication/why-how-and-what-elephants-communicate.html
To end on a very different note, did you know that even single-celled, microscopic bacteria communicate with each other? Don’t go crazy trying to hear them talk because, obviously, they don’t have that ability. They do, however, have a way to “talk” with each other by producing chemical secretions that allow these single celled organisms to form groups, called colonies, and function as one unit.
What would be the advantage of bacteria forming larger colonies? As the number of bacteria increase, would that make it easier, or harder to grow the colony? Why do scientists even care about this? Read about it by following this link to the article published by PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/bassler-bacteria.html
Issues for further thought and discussion:
1) Besides the examples given here, find 4 or 5 other specific examples of animals using vocalizations to make statements. What might be the advantage to an animal of being able to vocalize its intent before it actually acts out its plans? Under what circumstances might it actually be a DIS-advantage for an animal to vocalize its intentions before it acts?
2) Do you think that parrots know what they are saying and the appropriate times to say certain phrases, or do you think they just have learned to simply mimic certain phrases under specific circumstances? How might you tell the difference?
3) Having read the article about the research on parrots done at the University of Georgia, what question would you ask next? If you were going to continue that study, what specific question would you ask next, and how would you design a study to try answering that question?
4) Read the article about bacteria referenced in the last paragraph above, and then answer the 3 questions asked in the last paragraph of that article.
©2012 SciSpark.com
