-Parrotresearch.com- A Journey Into the Mind of A Talking Parrot
Parakeet Communication Theory
October 19,2003
by Ryan B. Reynolds
Parrot Intelligence Researcher & Communicator
Parakeets have been talking in the human language now for a long time. It has been alleged for centuries that they were capable of speaking in contextual language, but most scientists, animal behaviorists and researchers have been reluctant to admit it. However, during the past few years many more are acknowledging that animals are far more intelligent then we previously thought. My hat is off to those who have dedicated their life to proving it. I can only wish that my theories will some day be recognized and respected as some of theirs.
How Budgies Communicate
If you have ever seen a flock of parakeets, you may have noticed how they all seem to be chirping and vocalizing at once. To most of us, this just seems like a whole lot of birds making a bunch of noise. Most people could not imagine how they could possibly be communicating with each other or understanding what each other is saying. Many people usually regard birds as non-sentient and unable to communicate. Others have determined that they may be able communicate some, but only at very limited levels. However, this research has shown that they are more than likely communicating at extremely high levels and each and every one of them understands what the other is saying. It also suggests that their advanced communication abilities not only allow them to understand every bird in the flock, but they are able to send and receive information simultaneously. They even take this one step further and are able to communicate and understand more than one bird at the same time using different dialects. So this is a very complex form of communication, which allows them to learn the human language very quickly in a domesticated environment. My studies have also shown, under certain conditions, they can talk and understand what they are saying many times faster than humans are capable of learning. This was evident in at least four budgies in our group that learned to speak in sophisticated conversational language before they were six months old.
Why Budgies Mimic
Only about 5% of parakeets bond well enough with their guardians to become good talkers. Those that do bond, usually start off mimicking. They do this because they have to practice reproducing our vocalizations. Let us face it, budgies were not meant to reproduce human speech and it takes a considerable amount of effort for them to do it. Many have to use their whole bodies to force out enough sound for us to even understand them minimally. They speak extremely fast and can often talk in excess of 200 words per minute. This in itself allows us to only pick up about 10% of what they are saying.
Why A Large Percentage Continue To Mimic
Normally it takes them many months to a couple of years to be able to vocalize all human speech so it is recognizable. They learn to understand our language very quickly though. Those that decide to talk in context can get discouraged very easily when we do not understand them and often revert back to mimicries. We as humans have a tendency to pay more attention to them when we hear them repeating mimicries. Through the recordings on this site, people are now learning to understand their parakeets better when they start communicating. The facts on this site show that parakeets are a very sociable animal and when they know we are trying to understand them, they become more determined to communicate with us on a one to one level.
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