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From: rdmiller@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Ruth D Miller)
Subject: Re: Why do parrots parrot???
Message-ID: <1991May2.200754.1156@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>
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Date: Thu, 2 May 91 20:07:54 GMT
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I have begun reading Joseph Forshung's _Parrots of the World_, and
he suggests that parrots need to learn the "local dialect" of
their species in their particular valley.  Unlike mockinbirds, catbirds
and starlings, whose documented mimicing of other bird species
seems to be related to claiming territory, Forschung says there
is no evidence that parrots in the wild mimic other birds.  Perhaps
like humans, whose intelligence means they have to _learn_ to
speak with their kind, the mimicking parrots do not have programmed
"language"?  Just a thought...

Ruth

ps: I may have misspelled Forschung?