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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 ten years to arrive at my present understanding
based upon reading the literature and my person experimental
inquiries. I'm sure there are other pet owners and parties who are
exploring the same topic. 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 ten years to arrive at my present understanding
based upon reading the literature and my person experimental
inquiries. I'm sure there are other pet owners and parties who are
exploring the same topic. 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