Parrot brainpower

Some researchers say these Mensa-esque birds are as smart as great apes.
By Steve Dale

A few years back, someone described to me how her doorbell would ring overnight. She would call the police and blame the neighbors. The story made the papers in her town, where a minister even warned his congregants about such decadent activity. Police staked out the house, but the bell continued to ring randomly, and whenever it did, the household went into an uproar.

Finally, a family member noticed the pet parrot laughing, with his wings fluffed out. He was to blame!

"Parrots love to amuse themselves, particularly at our expense," says Karen Webster, a parrot behavior consultant in Anchorage. Webster has eight parrots. The Lesser Jardine's parrot makes a noise that sounds a lot like her phone ringing. Her Congo African Grey answers, "Hello," and her Timneh African Grey says, "OK, bye." The birds repeat this routine endlessly, presumably to entertain themselves.

We all know that some birds can talk, but can they understand, too? Are they doing more than just "parroting" sounds? Harvard University research associate Irene Pepperberg has been studying those questions for nearly 30 years. The short answer: Yes.

Her African Grey parrot, Alex, can identify 100 different objects, seven colors, five shapes and quantities up to six and can understand concepts like bigger/smaller and absence. Does that mean Alex is a Mensa bird, or are all parrots this intelligent?

"We just don't know," says Philadelphia certified parrot behavior consultant Liz Wilson. "We really don't yet know what they're capable of. Thanks to Irene, we're at least beginning to understand."

One challenge for researchers is knowing what they are assessing. When comparing dog intelligence, for example, even though a St. Bernard may have been bred for a different purpose than a toy poodle, when it comes down to it, a dog is a dog is a dog. All dogs are members of the species Canis lupus. But around 100 different species of parrots are kept as pets. Only two species (budgies and cockatiels) are truly domestic; others are only generations removed from the wild. Parrot species range from the famously talkative but sensitive African Grey to the curious and energetic Caiques from South America.

"This may get me into trouble -- measuring intelligence is tricky -- but it's clear to me that parrots are in the same league as great apes, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and very young children," Wilson says. "Dogs and cats simply aren't there."

"Behavior experts say to provide birds with toys -- well, that's a start," Pepperberg adds. "Imagine putting a 4-year-old in a playpen with two toys for eight hours. They need more. Children need interactive toys, and so do parrots. We're looking for the funding to research ways parrots can interact with TV. Alex likes action movies, and Griffin (another African Grey) prefers "Teletubbies." Giving parrots some control over their lives is very important."

Animal behaviorist Cheryl Meehan has researched enrichment of the parrot environment. She learned that parrots who don't live in stimulating environments are more likely to compulsively pull out their own feathers and exhibit other abnormal behaviors.

Meehan, who is based in Portland, Ore., says parrots work for their food in the wild and should do the same in captivity. She recommends making parrots forage for their food by pouring birdseed into Kong (rubber) toys or having them work to retrieve the treats inside special piñatas made for birds.

Meehan also suggests teaching pet birds by using a clicker as a training tool. Another option is to use Pepperberg's technique with Alex, called model/rival. When she teaches Alex something new, she asks a question, and a "student" (the model/ rival) makes the correct response. Alex is then more likely to follow suit as a result, particularly after the student is praised and given the object he or she identified as a reward. Pepperberg and the student then trade roles so that Alex sees that one person is not always the questioner and the other the respondent, further reinforcing the concept.

Sometimes, Pepperberg asks Alex a question she's certain he knows the answer to. Yet, he'll offer only wrong responses. He couldn't consistently avoid the answer unless he knew it. In part, it's to frustrate his teacher, or to let her know he's bored with the question. "For sure, Alex knows how to push my buttons," Pepperberg says. "It's what parrots do."