Is Your Parrot Self Aware or Not

[Wolf]

Really the main thing is to have some fun while learning more about our birds and sometimes ourselves in the process, but the main thing is the birds.

[galeriagila]

I'll drink (coffee at the moment) to THAT!

[seagoatdeb]

Its evening here, so i will have a drink of homemade red wine to that.

[Wolf]

The recent post from Parrotsforlife about teaching your parrot to not bite and some of the comments in it got me thinking again about consciousness and self awareness in our birds and while looking for more information I found a couple of things that I found interesting and thought that you might also. The first one actually has more to do with possible definitions in regards to both consciousness and self awareness, but also has more to offer than just definitions for these concepts. The second one was a bit surprising in that it shows that some scientists are actually saying that parrots and other birds are not only conscious but also self aware. It also includes several other species of animals that they feel are also self aware as well as conscious. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_consciousness

http://www.seeker.com/animals-are-as-wi ... 36633.html

[Pajarita]

I think one of the main problems with animals (language been the first, of course!) is the blurred borderline between consciousness and self-awareness... But, in any case and coincidentally, the book mentioned on Wikipedia, Animal Minds, is next on my 'pile' (there is always an actual pile of books on my night-table that are there waiting for their turn to be read ) after I finish with the 50 Shades trilogy and, if anybody is interested, I can lend it to them after I am done (but it will take a while because I only have about one or two hours a day to read).

[galeriagila]

Thank you, Wolf!

It's humbling and troubling to consider animals having that level of awareness.

There's a line in my favorite book (The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton) that says something like..
'The Blue Bottle Fly may seem stupid to us as it smashes again and again against a window in our drawing room, but it navigates is way brilliantly in its own environment.'

I was listening to a radio discussion of the possibility of parallel universes/existences of which we are unaware... maybe there are some right under our noses. And in our slaughter yards, acquariums, cages...

[seagoatdeb]

Thanks for the links Wolf. I have long believed just as the Scientests have signed in your second link. I know that Gaugan the Red Belly is more self aware and or more intelligent than the other Poicephalus parrots that my daughter and I have and it is very glaringly obvious to both my daughter and I. It is not just a matter of ages, since her Senegal is even older than Gaugan. But for just a quick example, when we have all the parrots outside in their outside cages, if a hawk or eagle flys overhead, all the Pois except Gaugan will stare up at the sky untill the eagle or hawk leaves. Gaugan will take a quick look up, but then will continure to play while the others all look at the sky. Gaugan realizes she is protected in a cage and with me there and does not worry, but the others have to follow their instincts.

At Gaugans 18 years she speaks human language far more than parrot language. She will sit on my shoulder and babble for hours. She also talks herself to sleep saying mushy human phrases to herself. She participates in every conversation when company is over and if anyone argues she will start talking in an arguing voice right along with us. With all the other pois if someone they trust fightens them accidently, they usually take time to recover. Gaugan recovers instantly, its as if she just gives the benefit of the doubt, same as i would if my partner bumped me in the middle of the night...... i would just assume it was an accident. She is always trying to control the whole household and she is good at it. She really has a lot of ways to make her meaning understood. She makes sure, that everyone in the house both humans and parrots have a relationship with her. When I take her next door to my daughters she makes sure that my daughters parrots give her space, and she is able to keep parrots that squabble with other parrots stay away from her, even though some are larger than her, although not by much. Gaugan is also the only parrot I have had that I am sure recognizes herself in the mirror.

I have also noticed that female pois are more intelligent than male pois. Has anyone else noticed similar things in Pois to me, and/or other species of parrots or does your experience tell you different? I have heard many parrot owners in other groups say their Red Bellys are more aware than their other Pois, with one person even describing it as that they have more "soul".

[Luckyandjenn]

I think lucky is self aware when he does see him self in a mirror or spoon he's gets super excitedand makes all sorts of clicking sounds and his eyes dilate

[Pajarita]

I don't think he is excited because he knows he is seeing himself (why would he?). The reaction you describe is that of a bird seeing another bird.

[galeriagila]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the Rickeybird continues to look into a mirror with all the disinterest as if he were looking at bare wall space. I hold him up close and he just knocks on it like any other surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssC-fsVmgDE

When he was little, not even sexually mature, he was kinda like a puopy or kitten and romped at it but I guess pretty quickly just decided it was nothing real, not even as television, which he does watch.

I Skyped with somebody who also has a parrot and man, the Rbird was verrrry interested in that, maybe realized these were live interacting people/bird. After we signed off, he hopped down and looked behind the screen, like "where'd they go????"