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| Arielle requests that you contact us. |
"Don't Be Shy"
| See contact information at bottom of the page. |
You are here:
Contact Us
Contact Us
Photo by Linda Carpenter
Pet bird owners, parrot
breeders, bird trainers,
scientists, & hobbyists
interested in cognitive
speech by birds please
read below.
breeders, bird trainers,
scientists, & hobbyists
interested in cognitive
speech by birds please
read below.
DR. DOOLITTLE I PRESUME?
To some people the idea of talking with animals seems silly, yet a
handful of scientists have expended extraordinary effort to try to
communicate with animals. There are famous attempts to
communicate with individual great apes, one of the best publicized is
Francine Patterson's study of the gorilla called Koko. Dr. Patterson
has the distinction of conducting the longest ongoing study in the field
of interspecies communication; she continues to investigate her
gorilla friend after more than 30 years on the job.
Despite the studies of apes using visual communication (sign
language), there has been little progress with communicating vocally
with animals. One reason is that the anatomy of many creatures is
not suited to duplicate the complex sounds of human speech. Lacking
the ability to vocalize is an impediment.
Birds are animals that naturally use sound to communicate, although
humans have yet to discover the precise meaning for the messages
that birds transmit. Despite some limitations because of their size,
many different birds including crows, ravens, mynah birds, parrots,
and a number of songbirds have the knack for reproducing words
from human speech. Vocal communication between birds and
humans is possible because birds are able to reproduce sounds
similar to human speech.
In the past, accounts of talking birds were not accepted as examples
of communications, but there is evidence that the skeptics were
wrong. In ancient writings, there are accounts of birds capable of
conversing; of course, we can't go back a millennium or more to
verify such accounts. In the 1950s, an English researcher, Len
Howard, wrote about teaching songbirds to understand words; she
described how she taught one bird to respond by counting out
numbers spoken to the bird in English. In The Grey Parrot, Wolfgang
de Grahl described incidents of birds using language appropriately.
The problem is that investigators have overlooked the reports, and
the result is that the insightful observations remain unexplored.
The ability of parrots to use words beyond simply repeating what
they hear is generally unappreciated. I began my work with Arielle in
1992. It took 18 years to arrive at my present understanding based
on reading the literature and my person experimental inquiries. I'm
sure there are other pet owners and parties who are exploring the
same topic. However, there is no organization dealing with birds
communicating using human language, so individuals are left to
invent ways to discuss intelligent speech by parrot-like birds. Those
factors are the problem and a reason for this site.
While I do not claim to be Dr. Doolittle, I have achieved a modest
degree of success communicating with a parrot-like bird. Arielle
illustrates that birds have many abilities that we did not suspect.
Additionally, through speech we humans can learn a great deal about
birds and, perhaps, something about how they think. We may be
surprised to find that they are more like us that we ever considered.
Mankind has arrived at a stumbling point. In order to investigate
meaningful speech by a bird, one has to conceive the possibility that
birds have such an ability. For many people, accepting the idea that
birds possess advanced mental abilities is a point of contention and a
major obstacle to future studies.
To some people the idea of talking with animals seems silly, yet a
handful of scientists have expended extraordinary effort to try to
communicate with animals. There are famous attempts to
communicate with individual great apes, one of the best publicized is
Francine Patterson's study of the gorilla called Koko. Dr. Patterson
has the distinction of conducting the longest ongoing study in the field
of interspecies communication; she continues to investigate her
gorilla friend after more than 30 years on the job.
Despite the studies of apes using visual communication (sign
language), there has been little progress with communicating vocally
with animals. One reason is that the anatomy of many creatures is
not suited to duplicate the complex sounds of human speech. Lacking
the ability to vocalize is an impediment.
Birds are animals that naturally use sound to communicate, although
humans have yet to discover the precise meaning for the messages
that birds transmit. Despite some limitations because of their size,
many different birds including crows, ravens, mynah birds, parrots,
and a number of songbirds have the knack for reproducing words
from human speech. Vocal communication between birds and
humans is possible because birds are able to reproduce sounds
similar to human speech.
In the past, accounts of talking birds were not accepted as examples
of communications, but there is evidence that the skeptics were
wrong. In ancient writings, there are accounts of birds capable of
conversing; of course, we can't go back a millennium or more to
verify such accounts. In the 1950s, an English researcher, Len
Howard, wrote about teaching songbirds to understand words; she
described how she taught one bird to respond by counting out
numbers spoken to the bird in English. In The Grey Parrot, Wolfgang
de Grahl described incidents of birds using language appropriately.
The problem is that investigators have overlooked the reports, and
the result is that the insightful observations remain unexplored.
The ability of parrots to use words beyond simply repeating what
they hear is generally unappreciated. I began my work with Arielle in
1992. It took 18 years to arrive at my present understanding based
on reading the literature and my person experimental inquiries. I'm
sure there are other pet owners and parties who are exploring the
same topic. However, there is no organization dealing with birds
communicating using human language, so individuals are left to
invent ways to discuss intelligent speech by parrot-like birds. Those
factors are the problem and a reason for this site.
While I do not claim to be Dr. Doolittle, I have achieved a modest
degree of success communicating with a parrot-like bird. Arielle
illustrates that birds have many abilities that we did not suspect.
Additionally, through speech we humans can learn a great deal about
birds and, perhaps, something about how they think. We may be
surprised to find that they are more like us that we ever considered.
Mankind has arrived at a stumbling point. In order to investigate
meaningful speech by a bird, one has to conceive the possibility that
birds have such an ability. For many people, accepting the idea that
birds possess advanced mental abilities is a point of contention and a
major obstacle to future studies.
Do you share my interest in
talking birds?
Please contact me to tell me
what you are doing. It
doesn't matter whether you
are a beginner or a
professional; I will respond
to correspondence.
Have you discovered
something unusual about
your bird?
Let's see whether we have
common interests.
Does your bird say unusual
things?
I'd like to know.
Do you know someone with
a talented talking bird?
Will you kindly ask the
person to contact me?
Do you have "good ears"
for decoding parrot speech
or know someone who does?
I'd like to hear from people
who are interested in
learning more about
untaught, free, speech by
parrots.
Send your e-mail message
to the address below or use
the response box below to
get into contact by telephone.
Mike@ParrotSpeech.com
talking birds?
Please contact me to tell me
what you are doing. It
doesn't matter whether you
are a beginner or a
professional; I will respond
to correspondence.
Have you discovered
something unusual about
your bird?
Let's see whether we have
common interests.
Does your bird say unusual
things?
I'd like to know.
Do you know someone with
a talented talking bird?
Will you kindly ask the
person to contact me?
Do you have "good ears"
for decoding parrot speech
or know someone who does?
I'd like to hear from people
who are interested in
learning more about
untaught, free, speech by
parrots.
Send your e-mail message
to the address below or use
the response box below to
get into contact by telephone.
Mike@ParrotSpeech.com
| Contact Arielle or Mike, we love to get mail about birds! Respond to Mike@ParrotSpeech.com |
| Use the form below to send a message automatically. Send your telephone number, IF you wish to converse by telephone (in the U.S.A.). |
| Arielle understands speech and speaks thoughtfully using English words, phrases, and sentences. |
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Photo by Linda Carpenter