It’s always a small delight when an animated movie gives its talking animals actual names, like they’re tiny, feathered friends whose squawks actually have a consistent syntax. Turns out, that detail might not be as fictional as it seems. According to new research published in PLOS ONE, parrots may actually use names in ways that go beyond the cute mimicry that works well in a viral video.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, analyzed survey data from nearly 900 companion parrots across dozens of species. They found that parrots aren’t just living tape recorders who hear a sound and repeat it ad infinitum without understanding its meaning or context. About 47 percent of the birds were reported to use names, and in many cases, they appear to use them the same way we would, by directing them to the correct individual, whether it was a human, another bird, or a household pet of a different species altogether.
It’s an incredible find, and one that is not unique to parrots. Dolphins use a series of signature whistles that serve almost like names, helping them identify one another. Elephants and marmosets seem to have a similar ability. But parrots are unique in that they can replicate human language. “Polly want a cracker” isn’t just a mid-19th-century meme phrase that unrealistically captures the vocal abilities of parrots. Talking like a shrill, sometimes demonic version of a human is just something parrots can do, and with greater detail and nuance than we previously thought.
Parrots Can Learn Human Names, Which Feels Like Dangerous Information
Not every bird involved in the study demonstrated the same level of awareness. Some were just repeating memorized phrases to anyone who walked by. But the researchers found that parrots can grasp the idea that names serve as labels for specific individuals, whether those individuals are humans or not. Some of them even greeted members of their household by name. Some others called out for people when they weren’t in the room, suggesting that they might have a basic understanding that the people they’re calling out for still exist even when they’re not around.
Maybe the most impressive thing about all this is that not only were some of these birds so smart that they could identify individual people and animals by their names, but some of them even got sassy with it. The researchers say that when a particular parent was called the wrong name by a human, the parrot corrected the human. Another one, seemingly fed up with some of the mouthy dogs in the research, told different individual dogs to be quiet using their correct names.
Of all the parrots studied, gray parrots stood out as particularly good at associating names with individuals, though a bunch of different species shared similar abilities. It’s all fairly remarkable, and the researchers think it eerily mirrors early human language development, specifically in that parrots use their own names to get attention, much like human toddlers refer to themselves before learning pronouns.
Does this all mean that given enough time, parrots are going to be yapping our ears off about their boring days as we’re trying to relax on the couch at night? Maybe, maybe not. But for now, it’s mighty impressive that while they may not fully understand the concept of a name the way we do, and all of the complexities and nuances therein, they seem frighteningly close to figuring it out.
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