Telepathy and Birds

[Cryren8972]

Here is some interesting information on telepathy and birds. Working with birds myself, I have some interesting things I could add to this...leaving that for later though, I'll just say that bird owners everywhere have often wondered about the telepathic abilities of their birds. For instance, your bird may come right up to you when you want to pet her but then fly if you want to put her in the cage. Some chalked it up to being able to read body language extremely well...but the ones paying attention thought otherwise, and the experimenting began! =)
http://www.sheldrake.org/nkisi/

Oh, and I would be wrong not to add that they have been observed in the wild in formation for years, and there was always speculation how they stayed in formation, and moved at exactly the same time when changing direction...

[pctec]

Speaking of birds...

My wife sometimes calls me "a strange duck" but I just know she is referring to my freaky sexual escapades...

[Cryren8972]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Fpad20Zbk&feature=related
This bird was a huge loss to avian intelligence research. Notice that he's actually understanding what he's saying...proving that birds can and do speak in context and not just mimicry.

[Cryren8972]

For some reason, I couldn't embed the actual video, but the link is awesome...

[Strong]

(The embedding seems fine to me)

It is a very interesting clip. Of course it doesn't show the years of training behind Alex's 'speech'. It would be interesting to have that background information to put what we see in the video into some sort of context. As is, it certainly looks very impressive.

[Cryren8972]

There's another link under the video...it's a different video and goes a little more into the research and time frame. There were many years of training behind it, but at the same time, he can be presented with a new object and identify the colors, shapes, matter, etc. The training involved more along the lines of actually training him to recognize, much as you would a young child...pointing to a window, and saying, "window"...

[Cryren8972]

Here's more on the subject:
Does Alex, an African Gray parrot, think? (http://www.123compute.net/dreaming/knocking/alex.html)

[Cryren8972]

If someone calls you birdbrained, take it as a compliment! =)

NOVA | scienceNOW | Bird Brain | PBS (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3214/03-brain.html)

[Strong]

DR. PEPPERBERG & Griffin

There you go! :sqwink:

It is quite interesting that Dr Pepperberg is repeating her original work with Alex, now with Griffin. It certainly shows something about these African Greys.

[Cryren8972]

Yes, they've loosely associated the intelligence of an African Grey with a five year old. There are parrots just as intelligent as the African Grey, but the Greys articulate better, you can more easily understand them. Cockatoos are very mechanically inclined, and are masters at taking their cages apart, screws and all, in order to escape.

[Cryren8972]

A cockatoo breaking out of a cage. I've actually heard of them doing this with the lock latched, but I couldn't find one...

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[Strong]

Clever birds, but the padlock wasn't secured.

I'd like to see them take on a Killer Whale :sqwink:

[Cryren8972]

Clever birds, but the padlock wasn't secured.

I'd like to see them take on a Killer Whale :sqwink:

I've seen cases where they've actually unscrewed the top of the cage...but I couldn't find evidence on YouTube. :sqlaugh:
A cockatoo/killer whale fight wouldn't last long I'm afraid...

[Strong]

No, those damn cockatoos would turn up with a rocket launcher and it would be game over for the orca.

[Cryren8972]

ha! Only if he were smart enough to wear a helmet.