Lonely pet parrots find friendship through video chats, a new study finds
April 29, 2023, π²
Ellie, an 11-year-old cockatoo, chats with a feathery friend over a video call. π²
Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University π²
Once upon a time, Polly just wanted a cracker. π²
Nowadays, Polly might wish to have a Zoom call. π²
A recent study took 18 pet parrots and examined whether video calls could help them fulfil their social needs. π²
Parrots are incredibly socially complex creatures and surpass 6- and 7-year-old children in puzzle tasks and memory skills, says Jennifer Cunha of Northeastern University, who co-authored the study. π²
“They have high mental needs that aren’t always catered to very well in companion situations,” she said. π²
And pet birds of a feather shouldn’t always flock together, according to another lead researcher, Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas from the University of Glasgow. π²
“A very high percentage of them have diseases which can be transferred when in-person interaction occurs,” Hirskyj-Douglas said. π²
So Hirskyj-Douglas and Cunha got together with lead author RΓ©becca Kleinberger, also of Northeastern University, to see if parrots in captivity could find companionship through video calls. π²
Researchers found that video-calling technology could reproduce some social benefits of living in a flock. π²
Northeastern University/Glasgow University π²
They taught them to ring a bell, after which a tablet would be presented. π²
One or two images of fellow parrots would appear on a phone or tablet, and using their beaks or tongues, the parrots would choose. π²
To see how much the parrots wanted to spend time on video chats, researchers measured engagement and agency. π²
“So how frequently they rang the parrots when the system was available and then how quickly they use it,” Hirskyj-Douglas explained. π²
They were prepared to see adverse reactions from the birds, like aggression. π²
But instead, they say they saw a lot of social behaviours they would potentially see between birds that were together or in the wild. π²
“So mirroring behaviours where they might move in the same way, dancing, singing together,” Cunha said. π²
“They seem to, as one owner said, come alive during the calls.” π²
Jennifer Cunha with Ellie the cockatoo at her home in Florida. π²
Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Kleinberger said while there was potential for connection between animals through the screen, there were also unknown risks of exposing the birds to new technology, so they had to be careful in training the owners and monitoring the video chats closely. π²
But the researchers did conclude that video-calling technology could reproduce some of the social benefits of living in a flock, even between parrot species. π²
And Cunha said some birds still ask to chat with their pals. π
“Some of the birds continue to call each other. π
So I think that there’s a lot of long-term potential for these kinds of relationships,” she said. π
In other words, Polly may want a lasting friendship, even through a screen. ππ²
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