In the wild, many parrot species live in large flocks, but as pets they tend to be kept alone or in a small group. Isolation and boredom can cause birds to develop psychological problems, which can manifest as self-destructive behaviors such as rocking, pacing, or feather plucking. Scientists suggested that video calling could reproduce some of the social benefits of living in a pack. It turned out to be a surprising study.
Parrots Taught to VIDEO CALL EACH OTHER ARE LESS “ALONE”
According to the news of The Guardian, in the study, which included giving the birds a tablet to make video calls, it was seen that the birds began to engage in more social behaviors such as singing and playing.
The study, which stated that birds were given a choice about which “friends” to call on the touch tablet, revealed that the most popular parrots were the ones that called other birds the most.
Co-author of the study, University of Glasgow Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas said video calls have helped many people feel less isolated during the pandemic.
Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas said;
“There are 20 million parrots living in people’s homes in the US, and we wanted to explore whether these birds could benefit from video calling as well. If we give them the opportunity to search for other parrots, will they choose to do so and will the experience benefit the parrots and their caretakers?”
The researchers’ analysis, based on more than 1,000 hours of footage of 18 pet parrots, revealed that it did indeed have benefits for the birds.
TOTAL 147 CALLS
Parrots were selected among users of Parrot Kindergarten, an online coaching and training program for parrots and their owners. Birds first learned to ring a bell and then, with the help of their owners, tapped a photo of another bird on a tablet screen, triggering a call to that bird. During the study, the birds made a total of 147 calls to each other, while the owners took detailed notes about the birds’ behavior, and the researchers then reviewed the video footage.
of Northeastern University and co-founder of Parrot Kindergarten, Dr. “All participants in the study said they value this experience and would like to continue using this system with their parrots in the future,” said Jennifer Cunha.
“THE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT BEHAVIORS SURPRISED ME”
“I was quite surprised by the variety of different behaviors. Some were singing, some were playing around and going upside down, and some wanted to show another bird their toys,” says Hirskyj-Douglas. used the phrases.
The team’s paper was published in Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.