Difference between revisions of "Teaching Parrots"

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What is unknown is:
 
What is unknown is:
  
1/ Whether it is possible to teach parrots phrases by repeating it less than five times, or if there is a percentage chance of a parrot learning a phrase.
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# Whether it is possible to teach parrots phrases by repeating it less than five times, or if there is a percentage chance of a parrot learning a phrase.
 
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# Whether parrots learn phrases individually, or all the parrots on the island have a collective library of learned phrases. There is anecdotal evidence for both. On the one hand, it has been noted that a parrot has repeated the taught phrase immediately after it was taught it, which would suggest this was the only phrase it knew. On the other hand, a parrot has been recorded [http://forum.shartak.com/index.php/topic,2732.msg77934.html#msg77934 repeating a phrase] long after it would have been expected to have been killed - although there is a distinct possibilty that multiple parrots were taught the same phrase. Still, this occurence does suggest that parrots have a shared vocabulary.
2/ Whether parrots learn phrases individually, or all the parrots on the island have a collective library of learned phrases. There is anecdotal evidence for both. On the one hand, it has been noted that a parrot has repeated the taught phrase immediately after it was taught it, which would suggest this was the only phrase it knew. On the other hand, a parrot has been recorded [http://forum.shartak.com/index.php/topic,2732.msg77934.html#msg77934 repeating a phrase] long after it would have been expected to have been killed - although there is a distinct possibilty that multiple parrots were taught the same phrase. Still, this occurence does suggest that parrots have a shared vocabulary.
+
# Whether, if parrots are taught individually, each new phrase overwrites any previous, or is added to its repetoire.
 
+
# Whether, if parrots have a collective vocabulary, the number of parrots taught a particular phrase affects the liklihood of that phrase being repeated by other parrots.
3/ Whether, if parrots are taught individually, each new phrase overwrites any previous, or is added to its repetoire.
 
 
 
4/ Whether, if parrots have a collective vocabulary, the number of parrots taught a particular phrase affects the liklihood of that phrase being repeated by other parrots.
 
  
  

Latest revision as of 00:10, 6 April 2010

It is possible to 'teach' parrots to repeat speech actions. The exact mechanism is unknown, but circumstantial evidence has proven that repeating a sentence five times when on the same square as a parrot will result in it 'learning' the phrase and, ahem, parroting it randomly in the future.

What is unknown is:

  1. Whether it is possible to teach parrots phrases by repeating it less than five times, or if there is a percentage chance of a parrot learning a phrase.
  2. Whether parrots learn phrases individually, or all the parrots on the island have a collective library of learned phrases. There is anecdotal evidence for both. On the one hand, it has been noted that a parrot has repeated the taught phrase immediately after it was taught it, which would suggest this was the only phrase it knew. On the other hand, a parrot has been recorded repeating a phrase long after it would have been expected to have been killed - although there is a distinct possibilty that multiple parrots were taught the same phrase. Still, this occurence does suggest that parrots have a shared vocabulary.
  3. Whether, if parrots are taught individually, each new phrase overwrites any previous, or is added to its repetoire.
  4. Whether, if parrots have a collective vocabulary, the number of parrots taught a particular phrase affects the liklihood of that phrase being repeated by other parrots.


Various forum threads covering parrotological vocabulary:

http://forum.shartak.com/index.php/topic,1583.0.html

http://forum.shartak.com/index.php/topic,2688.0.html

http://forum.shartak.com/index.php/topic,2732.0.html