Scientists have taught parrots to make video calls to other birds — and they love it

The scientists taught the parrots to make calls to other birds via Facebook Messenger as part of the research. After he finished, they continued the habit.

The study showed that, like humans, parrots can createStrong social relationshipsthat benefit their health.

The results came from more than 1,000 hours of video footage of 18 pet parrots.

The study, conducted among researchers from Northeastern University, MIT and the University of Glasgow, aimed to get parrots, usually intelligent and highly social birds, to learn new things. skillsover a period of three months.

During this time they learned to make video calls themselves, even if They fly. The results showed that the birds They took advantage From interacting with other parrots over the Internet.

In nature, parrots live large flocksHowever, in captivity they tend to be alone in cages or with a few other birds. They are also prone to Untreated diseases which are contagious and therefore their socialization is difficult

the Isolation and boredom They can cause psychological problems for birds, which manifest themselves in the form of excessive movement and also self-harm.

“Technology makes it possible to create bonds between animals, when they cannot be found,” said one of the scientists involved in the research.

Over the course of two weeks, the parrots learned to make video calls by ringing a bell and choosing which bird they wanted to call. For the next two months, they did 147 intended callswith the help of their caregivers.

“Their behavior often reflects what we would expect from interactions between these types of birds in real life. We saw birds learning to forage for the first time, and one keeper reported that his bird flew for the first time after one call,” said another researcher.

With information from the metro