Further to my post on talking parrots, here's more on N'kisi, the remarkable African Grey, at the Skeptic's Dictionary (via):
[A]pparently nobody involved in these parrot promotions thinks it of much interest that none of the jabbering parrots converse with each other. Wouldn't you think that if they had language they'd use it with each other? Wouldn't at least one of the many parrots whose owners claim to have taught them language have tried to converse with another parrot, just to find out if the other also thinks the owner is an idiot?
A link is provided to what must surely rank as one of the great scientific papers of our time: Rupert Sheldrake's "Testing a Language-Using Parrot for Telepathy" (pdf file).
Have they tried to read its palms?
Also -- and I apologize for going a bit on-topic here -- am I correct in recalling that gorillas who've learned sign language do actually use it to communicate with each other, to some degree?
Posted by: P. Froward | January 16, 2007 at 06:38 PM
You mean like beating their chests? They probably got that from old Tarzan movies.
Posted by: Mick H | January 16, 2007 at 11:12 PM
If you were a parrot would YOU want to encourage another parrot? (unless of course she was a hottie...but then again )
Posted by: DaninVan | January 17, 2007 at 03:46 AM
I thought Respect got that from the old Tarzan movies.
Posted by: P. Froward | January 17, 2007 at 05:34 PM