Parrot Intelligence - Recognizing Numbers (video 3/8)
The parrot recognizes quantities up to 6. The spectator places freely up to 6 magnetized points on a small black panel. The panel is suspended in front of the parrot and this one selects the number corresponding on a table with a choice of six possibilities. Without any doubt there is no “Clever Hans Effect”, at which the animal interprets and acts according to the behaviour of the trainer or the spectators. The video shows how the hyacinth macaw Luna recognizes the quantity of points on a suspended board and raises on a table the equivalent number. Dr. Franck Grammont, neurophysiologist of University Nice (France) controls and comments the test. Mark Steiger is convinced that the parrot can neither count nor calculate, but that it recognizes the quantity with an estimate: “If one cannot count (e.g. if the objects to be counted move continuously, like flying birds), one tries to estimate the quantity. The larger the number of objects to be estimated is, the more the estimate becomes difficult. Therefore I do not go beyond 6 points, because it becomes probably too inaccurate”. “I do not pretend that a bird could not learn how to count or calculate, however the problem of communication between parrot and humans should be solved before. I am unfortunately not able to explain arithmetic to a parrot”. The proof for the recognition of numbers is more easily realizable with a talking parrot! The hyacinth macaw Luna which shows this test must seek the number of points in a choice of six possibilities. This means it must recognize twice the correct number to be able to compare: once on the suspended panel and then on the table. For a talking parrot it is simpler: it associates the number of points with the learned word. Hyacinth macaws speak little and the words are hardly to be understood.
The parrot recognizes quantities up to 6. The spectator places freely up to 6 magnetized points on a small black panel. The panel is suspended in front of the parrot and this one selects the number corresponding on a table with a choice of six possibilities. Without any doubt there is no “Clever Hans Effect”, at which the animal interprets and acts according to the behaviour of the trainer or the spectators. The video shows how the hyacinth macaw Luna recognizes the quantity of points on a suspended board and raises on a table the equivalent number. Dr. Franck Grammont, neurophysiologist of University Nice (France) controls and comments the test. Mark Steiger is convinced that the parrot can neither count nor calculate, but that it recognizes the quantity with an estimate: “If one cannot count (e.g. if the objects to be counted move continuously, like flying birds), one tries to estimate the quantity. The larger the number of objects to be estimated is, the more the estimate becomes difficult. Therefore I do not go beyond 6 points, because it becomes probably too inaccurate”. “I do not pretend that a bird could not learn how to count or calculate, however the problem of communication between parrot and humans should be solved before. I am unfortunately not able to explain arithmetic to a parrot”. The proof for the recognition of numbers is more easily realizable with a talking parrot! The hyacinth macaw Luna which shows this test must seek the number of points in a choice of six possibilities. This means it must recognize twice the correct number to be able to compare: once on the suspended panel and then on the table. For a talking parrot it is simpler: it associates the number of points with the learned word. Hyacinth macaws speak little and the words are hardly to be understood.