LOL Feral Birds Teaching Wild Birds English Curse Words!

When domesticated birds go feral, they bring with them the curse of civilization. :wink:

2 Likes

Whoa, this is both amazing and hilarious. And it puts a bigger statement to the impact of humans on the natural world. Do the birds know what they are saying? Will it supplant some natural bird calls with human words, so that some bird language is lost? Would they continue to say human words after humans are no longer around for prolonged periods of time? I’m imaging some post apocalyptic world where jungles are taking over the cities, and a lone parrot flies by screaming, “hello cockie!”

2 Likes

What goes around comes around. :slight_smile: In so many ways. I believe the birds know what they’re saying, insofar as an American can understand Khoisan. We can know the sound of the words as we hear them, associate and interpret sounds in their context, but can we truly know what any other individual knows? This is such a fascinating topic from a psychologic, ecologic, biologic, and anthropologic perspective. :smiley:

Has there been any discussion on the evolution of human vocal chords? I’m not sure if I’ve read this somewhere, or if I just intuited it, but it seems that humans evolved our current vocal range in order to imitate other animals. Like birds, not just other apes. Many old indigenous languages contain animal sounds, and some are purported to communicate verbally with birds. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

I’m thinking this isn’t the first time I’ve posted this here:
https://vimeo.com/114605825

1 Like

Huh, fascinating…I’ll have to watch this when I have more time, or better yet, just find something about it to read. :wink: I have a much easier time focusing on written word than human voices. I’m not sure the video touches on this at all, but I also read something awhile back about language and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Hope I don’t get in trouble for mentioning this…:confused:

According to what I read, our ancestors foraged for mushrooms in ungulate dung as a food source. Some of these mushrooms had strange effects, such as synesthesia, feeling tastes and hearing colors. Apparently this led us to associate certain sounds with certain other sensory stimuli. Except…

Every animal that can hear already associates sounds with other sensory stimuli. That is the point of being able to hear, And other animals also communicate vocally, just not nearly as much as humans. Quite frankly, this is one of the main reasons I’m a little bigoted against my own species. :stuck_out_tongue:

Granted, other animals also willingly consume psychoactive substances in the wild, so they may indeed have an important role in neurological development. Ethnobotany and evolutionary psychology are such titillating subjects. :smiley: Parrots probably do it too. I enjoy pondering what we learn from our fellow creatures, what they learn from us, and what beliefs and behaviors are inherent in all beings.