# Practical uses for parrots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822 "2011-01-08T01:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/1 "2011-01-08T01:52:46Z")
Has the ability of parrots to mimic human speech ever been used for anything other than entertainment or amusement? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/2 "2011-01-08T02:38:45Z")
Sure, they’re used to bypass voice recognition systems all the time. Sorry. That’s only in pirate movies. Computer pirate movies. Aarrrrgghh, matey. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/3 "2011-01-08T02:48:30Z")
Alex the African Grey was used in research. Parrots have scared off intruders on occasion, you see it in “weird news” reports occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/4 "2011-01-08T03:54:39Z")
Monty Python got a lot of practical use out of one. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/5 "2011-01-08T04:56:14Z")
They’re good for killing plumbers. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/6 "2011-01-08T05:03:08Z")
Handy in case of starvation. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/7 "2011-01-08T05:04:32Z")
Witnesses in murder cases. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/8 "2011-01-08T05:08:13Z")
Blurting out the name of the killer/screeching ‘no, Bob, don’t shoot me, AWK!’ ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/9 "2011-01-08T09:20:57Z")
In the Flintstones universe, plenty of practical use is made of parrots, and all other sorts of animals. Seriously, I don’t think there is much practical use to be made of this ability. Parrots may be able to communicate simple things such as desire for food, but apart from that all they do (IIRC) is mimicking sounds they heard elsewhere - they’re not producing content which they then express vocally. And as the replication thing goes, I think parrots are way too unreliable to be used e.g. as a substitute for tape recorders. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/10 "2011-01-08T09:26:26Z")
Although parrots are accomplished mimics, there is some debate as to how intelligently they are mimicking the sounds. Although on the face of it, doubting their intelligence until demonstrated is a valid and proper scientific view, IMO, it’s sometimes held a little more tenaciously than it should be, and I think this is sometimes part and parcel of the whole ‘animals are just dumb machines that can’t suffer’ mindset. The other side of the coin is that pet owners are terrible at objectively observing the behaviours of their animals. As an owner of a succession of talking budgies(parrakeets), I know I can’t help but to regard them as little feathery people (people not necessarily meaning _human_ people here - they are intelligent in an alien way). I know some of this must be wishful thinking and confirmation bias on my part, however, I am convinced that it is not entirely so. My budgies have shown signs of having an inner thought-life, as well as having learned to associate certain sounds with abstract concepts (I can elaborate on this, if necessary) ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/11 "2011-01-08T09:54:31Z")
A house by a lake I used to fish had a parrot that would scream like a little girl. I was slightly concerned but it didn’t seem like a “DADDY IS HITTING ME” scream, and I realized it was a parrot. Still annoying as hell though. So does annoying or scaring people count? ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/12 "2011-01-08T13:20:06Z")
Useful for geometry. A polygon is a dead parrot. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/13 "2011-01-08T13:40:02Z")
Doorstops. Nothing is superior to a dead parrot. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/14 "2011-01-08T13:47:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Although parrots are accomplished mimics, there is some debate as to how intelligently they are mimicking the sounds. > > Although on the face of it, doubting their intelligence until demonstrated is a valid and proper scientific view, IMO, it’s sometimes held a little more tenaciously than it should be, and I think this is sometimes part and parcel of the whole ‘animals are just dumb machines that can’t suffer’ mindset. > > The other side of the coin is that pet owners are terrible at objectively observing the behaviours of their animals. As an owner of a succession of talking budgies(parrakeets), I know I can’t help but to regard them as little feathery people (people not necessarily meaning _human_ people here - they are intelligent in an alien way). > > I know some of this must be wishful thinking and confirmation bias on my part, however, I am convinced that it is not entirely so. > My budgies have shown signs of having an inner thought-life, as well as having learned to associate certain sounds with abstract concepts (I can elaborate on this, if necessary) I just have to bring up here the example of Snowball the dancing cockatoo, who actually dances to music (not just imitating a human, in fact dancing better than a human IMO) and has been studied by Harvard and had a scientific paper written about him. Look up Snowball on Youtube - damndest thing I ever saw! If he could learn to talk, too, he’d have his own TV show. ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/15 "2011-01-08T13:57:15Z")
Biodegradable dictaphones. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/16 "2011-01-08T14:23:19Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I just have to bring up here the example of Snowball the dancing cockatoo, who actually dances to music (not just imitating a human, in fact dancing better than a human IMO) and has been studied by Harvard and had a scientific paper written about him. Look up Snowball on Youtube - damndest thing I ever saw! If he could learn to talk, too, he’d have his own TV show. Snowball is(was?) certainly lots of fun, but some aspects of the dancing may not be quite so remarkable as they could appear to people not familiar with parrots and their kin. The nodding, swaying dance-like movement is something that even wild parrots do - although in Snowball’s case, he’s keeping the rhythm (keeping time and double time at various points), as well as performing a distinct sequence of different steps. Also, the high kicks aren’t a natural parrot display move, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/17 "2011-01-08T14:29:27Z")
Bipper-bird (Blue-fronted Amazon) would be useful as a ninja assassin; if he would ever get out of his cage without proper supervision he would kill me in my sleep. Twenty-five years I’ve owned this bird and he still hates me. Loves my daughter, though. ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/18 "2011-01-08T18:19:25Z")
The only parrot with a practical skill I ever meet was Kiwi the conure, who would open nuts for you and drop them in your hand ( until he realized He Can Eat Them). My Jeff bird is merely a force of chaos. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/19 "2011-01-08T18:49:14Z")
Ah, but Snowball’s dance moves were said to be unrelated to a cockatoo’s natural courtship display. He definitely high-kicks his feet to the music. (Sorry, I am obsessed by Snowball.) They’re going to try him out with Dancing With Myself to see what role human interaction plays (this is according to Wikipedia). ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822/20 "2011-01-08T18:56:25Z")
I have a parrot who is very good at breaking down cardboard and wooden furniture/base molding/doors and doorframes really quickly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/practical-uses-for-parrots/566822.md?page=2)