Parrots Understand

Parrot speech is commonly regarded as the brainless squawking of a feathered voice recorder.

But studies over the past 30 years continually show that parrots engage in much more than mere mimicry.

Our avian friends can solve certain linguistic processing tasks as deftly as 4-6 year-old children.

Parrots appear to grasp concepts like “same” and “different”, “bigger” and “smaller”, “none” and numbers.

Perhaps most interestingly, they can combine labels and phrases in novel ways.

A January 2007 study in Language Sciences suggests using patterns of parrot speech learning to develop artificial speech skills in robots.

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Fish can Swap Sex Organs

Many Fish Swap Sex Organs

With so many land creatures to wonder at, it’s easy to forget that some of the weirdest activities take place deep in the ocean.

The strange practice of hermaphroditism is more common among species of fish than within any other group of vertebrates.

Some fish change sex in response to hormonal cycle or environmental changes.

Others simultaneously possess both male and female sex organs.

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Birds Can Recognize Landmarks

Birds Recognize Landmarks

Can you imagine a road trip vacation without missed exits, stubborn drivers or map-folding disasters?
Of course noteyou’re not a bird. Pigeons can fly thousands of miles to find the same roosting spot with no navigational difficulties.
Some species of birds, like the Arctic tern, make a 25,000 mile round-trip journey every year.
Many species use built-in ferromagnets to detect their orientation with respect to the Earth’s magnetic field.
A November 2006 study published in Animal Behaviour suggests that pigeons also use familiar landmarks on the ground below to help find their way home

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