For centuries, we have been fascinated with the remarkable ability of certain species of parrots to mimic human speech, often saying words with skillful precision.
This talent doesn’t stop there. From the repetition of a ringing phone to the beep of a microwave or even the steady plip-plop of a dripping tap, there’s little a clever parrot can’t repeat.
Why Parrots Mimic Speech
Many parrots live in biodiverse rainforests bursting with fascinating sounds.
From calling monkeys to chirruping insects to the rustling of the leaves, parrots rarely experience silence. They’re not alone because they’re part of a complex social group (flock).
Social relationships are vital to parrots. Many experts agree that keeping a single parrot can cause severe loneliness, psychological problems, and stereotypies.
Parrots learn to imitate each other in the wild and develop context-specific calls. This even extends to the development of local dialects between different bird species.
Imitative vocal learning is a way to prove oneself to be a worthy mate. This ability to mimic indicates good hearing, adept learning capacity, a healthy memory, and precise muscle control.
These are desirable characteristics for members of the opposite sex. Parrots mimic human voices and household sounds to compensate for a lack of mental stimulation and to please their owners.
Remember, a parrot is unconfined, surrounded by constantly changing stimuli, required to forage for food, and surrounded by same-species birds.
Unfortunately, this may not be true for pet parrots. So, many parrots learn to mimic sounds, trying to foster a relationship with human caregivers to fill this social void.
How Parrots Learn To Talk
Parrots learn to talk through repetition, repeating sounds they find entertaining or interesting. You can often gauge a parrot’s interest in a sound through its body language.
A curious stance with a tilt of the head and intense eye contact or even eye pinning (eye flashing) suggests that you’ve succeeded in piquing their interest.
Parrots learn to talk by becoming interested in and remembering, practicing, and finessing sounds, resulting in recognizable human-like speech.
How Parrots Talk Without Vocal Cords
Parrots have a specialized vocal organ called the syrinx. Located at the lower end of the trachea (windpipe), where it bifurcates into two mainstem bronchi, the syrinx enables parrots to produce sounds.
Parrots have three pairs of muscles controlling the syrinx. In comparison, pigeons only have one pair.
Consequently, parrots can produce precise, convincingly human sounds using their syringeal muscles to modify the air flowing over this organ.
Age Parrots Start Talking
Similar to the developmental speed of human babies, every individual is different.
Some parrots learn to mimic words from 3-4 months, although 6-12 months is more typical. A parrot’s memory and motor function need time to develop.
Large parrots mature slower than smaller species. This may explain why small parrot species (like budgies) may start mimicking at a slightly earlier age than large birds.
Why Parrot Don’t Talk
Intelligence, sociability, species, and training determine whether an individual parrot will talk.
Each parrot has a unique character and personality. There’s no guarantee that any individual will talk, although early and regular training with positive reinforcement increases the likelihood.
Parrots kept with a companion or in a group may be less likely to learn to talk as the driving incentive for mimicking humans is frequently an unmet need for social interaction and mental stimulation.
While parrots with friends may be less likely to learn to talk, their emotional well-being will be significantly better in practically every instance than a parrot kept in isolation.
If a parrot used to talk and lost the ability to do so, it may have a respiratory problem.
Parrots’ Understanding of What They Say
The scientific community understands that most (emphasis on the ‘most’ part) parrots don’t understand the significance of what they’re saying.
Instead, they mimic sounds to obtain attention, interaction, or rewards, such as food treats. Mimicking can also be a form of stimulus-response.
For example, when a bird encounters a stimulus it recognizes (such as the cover being removed from its cage in the morning), it may repeat a word that it has learned through repetition.
This goes hand-in-hand with situations such as “Good morning.” Stimulus-response is different from having a contextual understanding of our words.
However, there are exceptions. Many readers will be familiar with the case of Alex, a Timneh African Gray owned, trained, and studied by clinical psychologist Dr Irene Pepperberg.
Alex demonstrated an understanding of situations and a conversational ability that went above and beyond stimulus-response.
When shown a novel object or group of objects, he could answer questions such as “What color?” and “How many?” even without prior experience with the object before him.
As with many things, the truth is likely that each parrot’s ability to understand the significance of speech lies somewhere on this spectrum, from no understanding to a high degree of awareness.
Other Animals That Can Talk
Parrots aren’t the only animals that can mimic human speech. Due to the seemingly supernatural abilities of the syrinx, they’re the most accurate and recognizable contenders.
Of course, many other birds also possess a syrinx, and both Mynah birds and Corvids (such as crows and ravens) can imitate human speech.
Outside the avian world, several other species (all mammals) have been documented mimicking human speech in a recognizable and repeatable manner.
Durham University recorded an Orangutan named “Rocky” grasping the ability to say “hi” on cue, providing an interesting insight into our evolutionary biology and the development of human speech.
We also have the remarkable case of Koshik, a male Asian elephant who abides at Everland theme park in Yongin, South Korea.
Uniquely inventive and showing adaptability, Koshik has learned to produce a variety of words in his local dialect (Korean), including “annyong” (hello), “aniya” (no), and “choah” (good) by jamming his trunk into his mouth and exhaling.
Several cetacean species – aquatic mammals including beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, and orcas – have been recorded imitating human speech, even mastering recognizable English language sounds such as “hello,” “one, two,” and “A, B, C” when prompted by trainers.
