Species Differences In Vocal Learning By Parrots Revealed By Citizen Scientists by GrrlScientist
New research finds many companion parrots use words in appropriate contexts and uncovers species differences in vocal mimicry, thanks to a crowd-sourced database comprising almost 900 companion parrots.
A very interesting study has just been published that finds many parrots use words in appropriate contexts. This study, based on an analysis of almost 900 companion parrots as reported by a flock of citizen scientists, provides the largest comparative analysis to date of companion parrot vocal repertoires.
“I spend a lot of time thinking about male and female vocalisations in songbirds, so I first approached parrots from that point of view”, study co-author, Lauryn Benedict, a Professor and Associate Director of UNC’s School of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) said. “I was interested in a group where the general wisdom was that males and females were equally good vocal learners”, she explained.