why are parrots so smart and playful?

[usamma]

I know that most bird species are smart in the ways that enable them to survive. I'm just wondering what factors of survival caused parrots to be so smart? They seem to think outside the box. They are also so playful-- why do they need that to survive? And of course, why are they so good at mimicing sounds, and even learning that certain sounds mean certain things (like my Moki who says good morning if I don't uncover his cage soon enough in the morning)?

[NotEnoughTime]

Good question!!!

Intelligence alone is a survival factor. But along with intelligence comes boredom (I would think) and so playing may be a result of that...

Recommended viewing:

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Film
The Real McCaw: The Real Macaw - Introduction | Nature
Kea - The Smartest Parrot: Kea - The Smartest Parrot - DocuWiki
Parrots in the Land of Oz: Parrots in the Land of Oz - Introduction - Australian Parrots | Nature

You can find portions of some of these on youtube and other streaming sites - or wait for them to come 'round to pbs...

Amazing birds!!

[Ashling]

I wish I had the time to answer this in detail. It's one of my biggest reasons for my love of parrots :) I might come back to this ;)

[Newticus]

One of the reasons they mimic is because they are for the most part social beings. There are appearently different dialects for different flocks of the same birds. This it self might be a a way for them identify if there is another bird from another flock near by. But baby parrots learn to speak like their parrots so they have to learn their speech the way human babies do. As for playing, lots of animals play. Animals are not automatons, and short of anthropomorphsizing (sp?) I find no reason to doubt that they actually have fun, and enjoy, get angry and hate, and maybe even more. I'm not sure there is an evolutionary cause for us to have developed how to play either, but we do, and so do other animals.

Melanie

[Tinker]

They evolved the ability to mimic because once a upon a time they were spending their time in the forests and wanted to keep their predators off their trails, so they would mimic the animals around them to keep anything dangerous from looking for them where they were perching.