Do parrots feel emotions?

[Pajarita]

There has never been any doubt in my mind that they do but this piece is very nicely written and I wanted to share it with you. How do you feel about the subject?

http://www.birdchannel.com/3-things-you ... -feel.aspx

[shiraartain]

My friends all think I'm crazy, though most of them are too polite to say it and others also love Fajr from the snippets they see of him through social media, but yesterday my heart broke when he let out the saddest sound as he realized I was about to walk out the door. I haven't been able to be around him as much as usual this week as I had to keep heading over to campus since I had two major conferences this week and I did wonder if he even noticed I was gone since my parents and one of my sisters hang around with him all day anyways. That sound was the saddest noise I have ever heard from him, my heart broke when I heard it. I spent the whole day thinking of it and took him out to spend time together as soon as I woke up this morning.

[Wolf]

There is no doubt in my mind that they feel emotions as strong as or even stronger than we feel and that they do everything in their power to share their feelings with us. They reach out to comfort us when we are down and try to cheer us up. When they are feeling good they try to share that with us and get us to respond to them so that we are happier too.

[Matt Alyk]

I know for a fact that parrots can feel emotions. The day before Lilly left, she knew I was really sad. I was sitting on the couch, and she climbed down from her cage, onto the couch, and perched on my knee. She let me pet her head for about ten minutes before going back onto her cage. If I had tried to do anything remotely similar to this before, I would have shed quite a bit of blood.

[liz]

When Myrtle was sucked out the door by a strong wind and blown into the top of a big tree she was free and there was nothing I could do if she wanted to fly away. Instead she just kept yelling "Ma". She did not want to be separated from me. We have a strong bond that can only be considered mother and daughter love.

[Michael]

There is no proof that parrots have emotions. I am not saying it is impossible or that they do not, but there is no scientific evidence to prove that they do. Most of these stories are just parrot owners projecting their own emotions and nothing more. For the most part it is harmless to think that pets have emotions or even humerous. However, when it comes to training, discipline, establishing good behavior, and scientific inquisitiveness, assuming or thinking that parrots have emotions can be harmful.

[Pajarita]

Well, if one goes by 'proof', Michael, there is no proof that humans feel emotions, either - and we know for a fact that not all humans feel the same emotions but nobody questions the fact when it comes to people, only when it comes to animals. When it comes to emotion, in reality, you are talking about behavior and birds behave as if they have them, the same that people behave (or not) as if they have them.

Personally, I don't need any scientific proof because, to me, the proof is in the pudding. I've had multiple birds for many years and I am 100% sure they feel emotions. I know they feel fear, anxiety, compassion and love and I know they mourn death because I've seen it with my own two eyes and it's not because I am anthropomorphizing, either. Some of their behaviors could be construed as stimulus-response as in the case of the 'love' of one mate for the other but I've had birds that have had relationships that are not sexual in nature and can only be explained as pure emotion with no hormonal cause. I had two male cockatiels that were cousins and which stayed together all their lives (they both had mates but the two pairs were always together because the two males always did). I've had a male amazon stand on his mate's bad side (she had a leg shorter than the other) so she could lean on him 24/7 (they even slept that way and it couldn't have been comfortable for him, either). I've seen a male lovebird nudge his dead mate's body as if trying to wake her up, bring food to her and stand in front of her body so no other bird could reach it. I've seen a female GCC fly over and take on a much larger bird that was trying to bully her handicapped mate. I've had birds attack the bird who bit me while another one flew over, kissed me in the cheek and asked me "You OK, sweetheart?" Macaws that were stolen of their babies by the breeder have moaned and looked for the babies for days... corvids have been seen covering the corpse of another and standing guard over it for while and there was this story on the news recently about crows bringing presents to this little girl who feeds them everyday... elephants slow down their pace to accommodate sick, old or handicapped members of the herd, they cry and mourn their death... a huge number of species adopt orphans of the same species and, on occasion, even of other species. I mean, there are millions of stories to this effect and, although a new branch in behavioral science, there are reputable scientists that believe in the fact, have done research about it and have written books so it's not that we are bird nuts or are all anthropomorphizing.

[Wolf]

I have worked with animals for over 30 years and I have no doubt that they have emotions the same as we do even though they do not always express them in the same way that we do. there is scientific research that agrees with this point of view such as this...http://www.newworldlibrary.com/ArticleD ... P3JBBs5DIU
I think that although the scientific jury is still out on this topic, I believe that the majority are leaning towards the fact that all animals have emotions.

[Pajarita]

And see this one that mentions 'bromances' meaning love between two individuals that will not result in sexual activity - what else but an emotion could cause them to behave this way?

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-news/20 ... rrots.aspx

[Matt Alyk]

There is no proof that parrots have emotions. I am not saying it is impossible or that they do not, but there is no scientific evidence to prove that they do. Most of these stories are just parrot owners projecting their own emotions and nothing more. For the most part it is harmless to think that pets have emotions or even humerous. However, when it comes to training, discipline, establishing good behavior, and scientific inquisitiveness, assuming or thinking that parrots have emotions can be harmful.

Well, there may not be any scientific proof, but it seems kind of obvious to me. It seems to me that all living things would, except for simple organisms like bacteria and plants. There's many cases where parrots cease to like someone because they have neglected something. Maybe they didn't give them enough attention, and the parrot starts biting. It just seems kind of obvious to me parrots have emotions, even though its not scientifically proven.