Squawk! You there? Pet parrots video call each other to elevate social lives
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Parrots are socially complex animals, outperforming 6- and 7-year-old children in puzzle activities and memory skills. When kept as pets, these birds frequently lack suitable stimulation to meet their high social, cognitive, and emotional needs.
A recent study by the University of Glasgow and Northeastern University looked at this issue by using 18 pet parrots to see if video calls could help them meet their social demands.
Parrots "have high mental needs that aren't always catered to very well in companion situations," Jennifer Cunha of Northeastern University, who co-authored the study, told NPR on Saturday.
The parrots were trained to ring a bell, which would then be followed by the presentation of a tablet by the study's principal investigators, Jennifer Cunha of Northeastern University and Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow.
The parrots would choose to use their beaks or tongues from one or two photographs of other parrots that would emerge on a phone or tablet.
To determine how much the parrots genuinely desired to spend time in video chats, researchers examined engagement and agency.
Surprisingly, they observed a lot of social activities, such as dancing and singing together, that they might often observe between birds that were together or in the wild.
Video calling - Mimics living in the wild
The researchers came to the conclusion that video-calling technology could mimic some of the social advantages of living in a flock.
But they also cautioned against the potential dangers of exposing the birds to a novel technology. As a result, they had to be careful when teaching the owners and attentively watching the video chats.
Every bird used the system, according to the study, and the majority of them showed strong drive and intentionality. Caregivers reported that some of the benefits were undoubtedly life-changing, such as learning to forage or even to fly by observing others.
"Some of the birds continue to call each other. So I think that there's a lot of long-term potential for these kinds of relationships," said Cunha.
The parrot video-calling system may be a creative solution to meet the social requirements of parrots and enhance their quality of life. But it's crucial to take into account the moral implications and possible dangers of using this technology.
The study was first published in ACM Digital Library.
Study abstract:
Over 20 million parrots are kept as pets in the US, often lacking appropriate stimuli to meet their high social, cognitive, and emotional needs. After reviewing bird perception and agency literature, we developed an approach to allow parrots to engage in video-calling other parrots. Following a pilot experiment and expert survey, we ran a three-month study with 18 pet birds to evaluate the potential value and usability of a parrot-parrot video-calling system. We assessed the system in terms of perception, agency, engagement, and overall perceived benefits. With 147 bird-triggered calls, our results show that 1) every bird used the system, 2) most birds exhibited high motivation and intentionality, and 3) all caretakers reported perceived benefits, some arguably life-transformative, such as learning to forage or even to fly by watching others. We report on individual insights and propose considerations regarding ethics and the potential of parrot video-calling for enrichment.
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