Talking birds are birds that can mimic the speech of humans. There is debate within the scientific community over whether some talking parrots also have some cognitive understanding of the language. Birds have varying degrees of talking ability: some, like the corvids, are able to mimic only a few words and phrases, while some budgerigars have been observed to have a vocabulary of almost 2,000 words. The common hill myna, a common pet, is well known for its talking ability and its relative, the common starling, is also adept at mimicry.[1] Wild cockatoos in Australia have been reported to have learned human speech by cultural transmission from ex-captive birds that have integrated into the flock.[2]
The earliest reference to a talking bird comes from Ctesias in the 5th century BC. The bird, which he called Bittacus,[3] may have been a plum-headed parakeet.[4]
- ^ "Talking Starlings". Starling Talk. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ^ Price, Hannah (September 15, 2011). "Birds of a feather talk together" Archived September 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Australian Geographic.
- ^ Mancini, Julie Rach (October 11, 2006). Why Does My Bird Do That: A Guide to Parrot Behavior. John Wiley & Sons. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-470-08493-9.
- ^ Nichols, Andrew (2013). Ctesias: On India. A&C Black. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4725-1998-6.