Parrots, well-known for their remarkable intelligence and delightful imitation of sounds, have become quite popular as pets in the past few decades. gained popularity as pets in recent decades. Those same qualities that make the birds interesting to watch, however, can also lead to issues. estimated 40% of cockatoos and African Greys, two popular species of parrots, reportedly engage in potentially harmful feather destruction. Many of these stress-induced, destructive behaviors are a byproduct of parrots living in environments drastically different from their natural habitats where they fly free among fellow birds. New research suggests modern technology, specially Facebook Messenger video chats, could help these birds regain their social lives
“In the wild, they live in flocks and socialize with each other constantly,” University of Glasgow associate professor Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas stated. “As pets, they’re often kept on their own, which can cause them to develop negative behaviors like excessive pacing or feather-plucking.”
Researchers from Northeastern University, MIT, and the University of Glasgow recently set out to see how several species of parrots interacted when placed on brief video calls with one another. Over the course of three months, the researchers trained 18 parrots and their human caretakers to learn how to operate touchscreen tablets and smartphones. The birds were initially trained to associate video calls with a bell. Everytime the bell was rung during the training phase, the bird would receive a treat. Caretakers, meanwhile, were trained to end calls any time the bird showed signs of stress or discomfort. Once trained, the birds were free to ring the bell on their own accord. Doing so would result in their caretakers opening up Facebook Messenger and connecting them with fellow birds around the country involved in the study. associated video calls with a bell and fed the birds a treat every time they rang the bell. The parrots were then able to access Facebook Messenger to video call fellow birds around the country.
The results were surprising. In almost all cases, the birds’ caretakers claim the video calls improved their well-being. Some of the birds even appeared to learn new skills, like foraging or improved flight, after observing other birds doing so. Two of the birds, a cockatoo named Ellie and an African Grey named Cookie, still call each other nearly a year later.
“It really speaks to how cognitively complex these birds are and how much ability they have to express themselves,” Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas stated. “It was really beautiful, those two birds, for me.”
Bird video-calls resulted in long-lasting friendships
The research into the birds was split up into two phases. For the first 10 weeks, caregivers were instructed on how to introduce and train the birds to interact with the touchscreen devices. Though previous research has explored using touchscreen with cats, dogs, bears, and rodents, parrots are particularly well suited to using the devices thanks to their combination of high cognitive ability, impressive vision, and flexible tongues. Once trained on the devices, all of the birds involved took part in a “meet and greet” where they were briefly placed in video calls with each bird at least twice. The birds were trained using treats to ring a bell to signal their interest in hopping on a call.
During the second stage of the research, the researchers took away the treats to see if the birds would still be interested in requesting a video call without a food reward. All the birds continued to ring the bell, with some doing so many times. Then, the researchers showed the birds pictures of different birds on a tablet screen and the parrot would click on the bird it wanted to interact with using its tongue. When they saw a bird on the screen, the parrots would move closer to the screen, make loud squawks, and bob their heads. Researchers think that the vocalizations may be similar to the calls and responses parrots make in the wild.
The researchers saw multiple instances of birds seeming to copy each other’s behaviors. Some would start grooming themselves after watching a bird on the screen do the same. Sometimes, the birds would “sing” together. In one video, a colorful parrot was seen eagerly waiting for a call to connect. When a large white bird appeared on the screen, the red bird banged its head and chirped in excitement. In another case, a male macaw video-calling with another macaw would say “Hi! Come here!” If the second bird left the screen, the vocalizing bird would ring a bell, which the caretakers thought meant the bird wanted his friend to come back to the screen.
“Strong social dynamics started appearing,” said Northeastern assistant professor Rébecca Kleinberger in a statement.
Parrots would rather call real birds than watch pre-recorded video of other birds.
Parrots in the study appeared much less interested in video calls if they featured pre-recorded video of other birds. A related study conducted by researchers at the University of Glasgow showed that the parrots strongly preferred to chat with other parrots in real time. Over six months of observation, the parrots spent more time engaged in calls with real birds than with pre-recorded videos. These findings suggest that the birds weren’t just interested in the presence of a screen, but in the actual communication with another living bird.
Altogether, the birds in the study spent 561 minutes making calls with real birds, compared to just 142 minutes interacting with pre-recorded videos. The birds’ caregivers also supported this point and told researchers that the birds seemed more curious and engaged when a live bird appeared on the screen.
“The appearance of ‘liveness’ really did seem to make a difference to the parrots’ engagement with their screens,” wrote Douglas recently.“Their behavior while interacting with another live bird often reflected behaviors they would engage in with other parrots in real life, which wasn’t the case in the pre-recorded sessions.”
Researchers are hopeful that these findings could one day help parrots improve their socialization. Some of the parrot caretakers surveyed noted the steep learning curve to train the parrots, but all of them said the project was worthwhile once finished. A majority of the caretakers in the video calling study said their birds had a very positive experience. None of them described the experience as negative. One caretaker even said her pet “came alive during the calls.”
Kleinberger stated that they are not claiming that you can make the parrots as joyful as they would be in the natural environment. They are aiming to help those parrots that are already in captivity.
