Parrots are popular pets, but they are highly intelligent creatures that need social connection and mental stimulation.
A team of scientists wondered whether technology might help provide it.
So they enrolled 18 parrots and their owners in an unusual experiment: Would the birds connect over video calls?
First, participants taught their parrots how to request a video call. When the birds rang a bell ...
... their owners would offer a tablet or phone with photos of other participating parrots, like a digital avian Rolodex.
“The notion of choice was very important,” said Rebecca Kleinberger, a researcher based at Northeastern University.
Once the birds learned the system, they began asking to call their feathered friends.
A lot.
Most birds appeared interested and engaged.
The birds tracked their video partners across the screen, peering behind the device when they disappeared from view.
They mirrored each other’s behavior, grooming together ...
... and singing together.
Some of the birds quickly developed favorite friends.
“We had birds who would sleep next to each other,” said Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a researcher at the University of Glasgow. “Sometimes they would leave the video call real quickly to go get something to show the other bird.”
Owners said that the birds were calmer and more confident. “Some of the caregivers would say that their birds came to life through these calls,” said Jennifer Cunha, a researcher affiliated with Northeastern.
The technology does raise potential ethical concerns, said the scientists, who instructed owners to keep the calls short and to end them if they saw any signs of discomfort or distress.
Video calls should be deployed thoughtfully, giving the birds agency and putting their welfare first, they added.
But to the researchers, the results suggest that the technology has promise.
“Now we know that if given access to it, they would use it,” Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas said. “And they use it in very individual and very beautiful ways.”
Emily Anthes reports on animal health and science.
Video credits: via Northeastern University. Image credits: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University. Produced by Josephine Sedgwick. Study details are available here.
A correction was made on April 21, 2023: Using information from a science journal article, an earlier version of this article misstated the number of pet parrots in the United States. There are 20 million pet birds, not 20 million parrots.