Are Parrots Sentient?

news.bbc.co.uk...

I've seen evidence before that parrots are able to put together human language, but this seems to go above and beyond.

So, if an "animal" can actually speak English (not just repeating) doesn't that qualify them as a sentient creture? Wouldn't this mean that we have AT LEAST two intelligent species on this planet?

Hmm, you're going to have to define your concept of sentient. I was under the impression it ment self-aware.

Also, Gorillas have been able to put sentances together using sign language, and Dolphins, it's suspected, even have their own language.

Sentience has four qualities, and being self aware of one of them. I'm sure all animals fail at least one or two, but parrots definitely hit almsot three. They arne't self aware, for one thing which is the primary quality of sentient beings.

DE

They aren't self aware? Then you'll have to define what self-aware means...My birds sure seem to think they exist...Oy, and the screeming!

Interesting philosophies of sentience.

sentient

adjective
1 having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious

noun
2 (rare)
a sentient person or thing
[ETYMOLOGY: 17th Century: from Latin sentiens feeling, from sentire to perceive]

In my book parrots are definitely sentient creatures as much as homo sapiens. If you're vegetarian, don't kill them and don't eat them.

Self aware....self aware is the concept that there is an I pronoun. The being can say "I am..."

And no, your parrots aren't aware of their own existence. It isn't something they question or even think about.

DE

But if you're not vegitarian, you should kill them and eat them?

Edit:
And so you need language to be self aware?

[Edited on 1-26-2004 by junglejake]

I can vouch for this article... i had a pet cockatoo once (aussie parrot) and it wasnt quite as amazing as this bird but it was definately intelligent... it used to call my name out and it would attack my toes when i went out to the back yard (we let it out of its cage during the day and it never flew away, except once and never came back) it would jump out from behind bushes and attack my toes... afetr i run off swearing for half an hour after i would hear him chuckling his head off in the back yard... parrots (and similar bird0 are definately more intelligent than many people give them credit for...

p.s isnt sentient the ability to feel (or register) pain?

Originally posted by junglejake

But if you're not vegitarian, you should kill them and eat them?

Sure, that's good deductive reasoning, you got it.

The cockatoos around my neighborhood here are very self-aware gang members and vandals. Safety in numbers they reckon.

I have heard it said that man is the only species that is aware of what death means to HIMSELF, either than trying not to get eaten by a cat, which is just a survival mechanism.

Originally posted by DeusEx
Self aware....self aware is the concept that there is an I pronoun. The being can say "I am..."

And no, your parrots aren't aware of their own existence. It isn't something they question or even think about.

DE

How do we know that they aren't self aware though. I mean, they have the ability to "talk" about themselves...isn't that self awareness?

As for the ability to understand death, I don't think that's a quality of sentience. Young children don't understand the concept of death, but we still consider them sentient creatures. Well some of them...I have to wonder about my second cousin.

Anyway, I think parrots, apes, and dolphins are a lower order of sentient. They haven't invented fire or harnessed nuclear fission, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking beings.

By the way, I doubt that dogs and cats are sentient. Some of them can be smart, but self-aware....

Just because the parrot says something, doesn't mean it understands it...

DE

Young childen? I lost a grandfather and a great grandfather before I was 6. I didn't understand until later what had happened, I just knew he was not coming back. Coincedentlly, these birds are said to have a vocabulary of a pre-schooler. I see the corrolation here.

Parrots know that they HAVE to survive not WHY they have to survive.

Well, when I lost one of my cocatiels, the other one mourned for a couple of days. He stopped eating, and would just hang out in his cage doing nothing but attacking us if we tried to take him out. Normally, when they would be seporated, he would just scream his head off until they were together. Somehow he knew there was a difference between Barney leaving the room and Barney leaving this world. He seemed to know that bird was never coming back...

From everything I've seen, parrots are just about the smartest animal there is compared to humans. Heck, they can mimic human speech without so much as teeth or lips.

I had a cockatiel as well, and he still flew out of the house, way more than once, that a sparrow half his size drove him to the ground. Not prudent. I'm sure you had the same experience.

Not entirely. My birds, occasionally, would get out of the house and fly up to our tree. Then they'd stay up there until it started to get dark or they got hungry. When that happened, they'd fly to the windowsill and start screaming and pecking at the glass until we came out there to get them. Kinda funny, actually

Originally posted by Flinx
news.bbc.co.uk...

I've seen evidence before that parrots are able to put together human language, but this seems to go above and beyond.

So, if an "animal" can actually speak English (not just repeating) doesn't that qualify them as a sentient creture? Wouldn't this mean that we have AT LEAST two intelligent species on this planet?

I was listening to Art Bell a while back about a show concerning this same species of parrot. It seems legit to me that this could be possible.

Most of what was on the old Art Bell show was strictly late night entertainment but every now and then he came across with a winner. That being said here is a link concerning this post that I found interesting:

www.budgieresearch.homestead.com...

It is the story of a bird called Victor. May he rest in peace.

Apes, birds, porpices, dogs and cats, are all intelegent. They all know that they don't want to die, but they don't know WHY, which is the difference.