Current Events > Do you guys think this bird knows what he is saying?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1691814378641801535

Do you suppose he genuinely comprehends his own words, or is it more akin to the way a dog might shake hands? Maybe the guy simply trained him to make a sound whenever he pecks something hard. Then again, Skinner did manage to teach pigeons how to navigate bombs, so it's a bit of a puzzler. Although, the fact that they were heading to blow themselves up doesn't exactly paint them as the sharpest tools in the shed.

I love dogs, but bird intelligence exceeds dog intelligence, at least by human measures.

Obviously not. Macaulay Culkin is using specific phrases to trigger specific responses.

I don't know about that specific parrot but in general yes they can speak and comprehend as well as a toddler.

And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Parrot Obama doesn't know what he's saying. He knows exactly what he's saying.

I love Apollo, and while he doesnt always answer the questions correctly, he has asked whats this? about new objects. I think that shows he has the capacity to be using associative word learning, vs just parroting. The former is an essential building block in learning any language, esp how babies/toddlers start to grasp speech.

Daffadilio posted...

I think that shows he has the capacity to be using associative word learning, vs just parroting.

lol

***sry I was post 10, I accidentally quoted instead of edited so just deleted the first post***

Heres a random, loosely-associated interesting thing that recently happened involving teaching animals things:

I have taught my two rabbits how to do two specific tricks- to spin in a circle with a hand motion or with a verbal command, and to sit up on their back legs (stand up) with just the verbal command.
My first bunny was trained in this before I adopted a kitten (last November, shes almost a yr old now). I adopted a second bunny in June, and obviously my cat was around as I trained him in those two tricks.
I usually have them perform a spin or a stand before a treat or sometimes dinner time, just as I feel like it, but not every single time or day.
Sometime last week I was going to feed my kitty and got distracted by something whilst I had the food bowl in my hand. She was meowing (normal) but when I looked back down, she was spinning in circles. I thought, thats a funny coincidence, but I wonder so I crouched and used the bunnies verbal command and hand signal to ask her to spin in a circle. She actually did it, very hesitantly and jerky. I was like. Nah, still gotta be a coincidence, and couldnt get her to do it again as she was begging for food.
The next night I did the same thing: said the command and used the gesture, and she seemed confused and was just kind of walking around waiting for food. But then as I crouched she did a perfect circle. Now Im close to convinced but still skeptical.
The next three nights I repeated it all, and each time she immediately spun in a circle. She does wait for me to use the command, she isnt just doing it in hopes for food. So anyways, Im now confident that she knows that trick and it really cracks me up. Maybe I actually taught her myself by reinforcing a coincidental behavior, but Ive never had a pet take to something so quickly and without having to be actually guided with treats and worked with consistently for at least a little bit, rather than 30ish second a day.

TLDR: My cat learned to do a trick for food from my pet rabbits, without any real training on my part.

No, they are not using language, they are performing behaviors for attention or treats--Which is just a trick. It's no different than what Koko the Gorilla was doing, and no, Koko didn't actually understand langauge.

https://youtu.be/e7wFotDKEF4

Thanks for everyone's input. Thinking about it now. Crows are pretty smart. So I don't know. Crows and use tools, remember people, give them stuff.

cjsdowg posted...

Thanks for everyone's input. Thinking about it now. Crows are pretty smart. So I don't know. Crows and use tools, remember people, give them stuff.

Crows can also solve water displacement puzzles.

I was ready for leading questions to inflate the creature's appeared intelligence, but damn Apollo knows his shit, at least in terms of differentiating objects on command. Pretty cool that he can apparently differentiate between 'what' and 'what color' for example. Of course he probably doesn't actually comprehend the syntax or grammar, and it's good that people have been pushing back against irresponsible claims of animals' human level understanding of language. But it's still cool.

BurmesePenguin posted...

Obviously not. Macaulay Culkin is using specific phrases to trigger specific responses.

This.