African Grey Parrot: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Parrots and Toucans · day 2 of 7

Five facts

1. Grey parrots can invent new labels from words they know, like banerry (banana + cherry) for apple and yummy bread for cake.
2. A pet grey parrot that escaped in Japan made it home by repeating its owner's name and address.
3. Alex the parrot learned more than 100 words, telling apart objects, colours, materials and shapes.
4. Grey parrots will give a partner a nut even if they go without. When roles are reversed, the partner returns the favour.
5. In a 2012 study, two captive grey parrots picked different songs on a touch screen, then danced and sang along.

The quiz

1. What new label did grey parrots reportedly use for cake?

• Banana crackers
• Banerry
• Sweet cherry
• Yummy bread (correct)

They reportedly used yummy bread for cake.

2. What brought an escaped pet grey parrot in Japan back to its owner?

• It repeated the owner's name and address (correct)
• It flew home at dawn
• It followed a delivery truck
• It whistled a song

It made it home by repeating its owner's name and address.

3. How many words did Alex the parrot learn?

• More than 10
• More than 50
• More than 100 (correct)
• More than 1,000

Alex learned more than 100 words.

4. What did grey parrots do in the nut experiment?

• Hid every nut
• Gave a partner a nut even if they went without (correct)
• Fought over every nut
• Ignored their partner

They gave a partner a nut even if they went without, and partners returned the favour.

5. What did the two parrots do with the songs they picked?

• Danced and sang along (correct)
• Ignored them
• Copied them silently
• Flew away

They danced and sang along to the songs they chose.

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