New research shows that the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata), a critically endangered parrot in Central America, has a sophisticated way of communicating. Instead of just making noise, these birds perform complex “warble duets” that act like synchronized sentences to protect their territory.
Using software designed for human language, scientists discovered that these parrots have a “vocabulary” of 36 different calls. Their duets follow “syntactic rules” — essentially parrot grammar — to keep their messages organized. Partners coordinate their timing and use sex-specific calls to stay in sync. This proves that these clever birds have advanced cognitive abilities similar to humans.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Mongabay, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.