Why Do Parrots Mimic Sounds?

Many people are fascinated with the idea of parrots and other mimicking birds as pets. With some time and patience, pet parrots and other birds can learn to say a lot fun words and phrases. Some parrots have been taught more than 800 words, and it is not uncommon for parrots to imitate household appliances.

  1. Why Parrots Mimic

    • It is not known why parrots mimic sound instead of relying on innate calls. Michael Schindlinger, an assistant biology professor at Lesley University, hypothesizes that learning calls allows parrots in the wild to adapt their communications to what he calls "context-specific calls."

    Dialects

    • In the wild, parrots living in a certain area have their own dialects.

    Birds with Rhythm

    • Researchers at Harvard have discovered birds that mimic sounds can also move to the beat of music. Animals that don't mimic sounds are not able to keep a steady rhythm.

    A Large Vocabulary

    • Humans are not the only animals parrots imitate. An African Grey parrot named Einstein lives in a California zoo where she has learned to mimic the sounds of chimpanzees, wolves, pigs, roosters, penguins, tigers, dogs and cats.

    The Quiet Ones

    • Different species of parrots might have vocabularies of different sizes. There are also variations in how often different species of parrot vocalize.