Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Reading to Parrots

This blog was inspired by one of my students, who read my previous blog and decided to see if my birds might like the same interaction with books as do young children. Now, maybe this subject is nothing new—a bit of research uncovered an article from about 10 years ago on this site about reading to one’s parrots…and at one point we actually sold a book of poems for birds, but the pictures weren’t always related to objects in the poem.

As it turns out, my students already occasionally read to my parrots on weekends, when there are no formal sessions scheduled. But the students aren’t actually doing it for the benefit of the birds! When this happens, they are reading their textbooks or a scientific article they need to analyze before class on Monday. They don’t want to completely ignore Griffin and Athena (and I’d be pretty annoyed if they did!), so the students figure that if they are reading out loud, the parrots might feel that they are getting some attention, even if all that they hear is totally meaningless to them. (Note that I’m not thrilled with this situation, but realize that accommodations sometimes have to be made.)

However, after reading my blog about the differences between the experiences of toddlers and companion parrots—one of which involves being exposed to books—one of my students decided to bring a children’s book into the lab and see what happened if she read it out loud. It was a book called “So Many Bunnies,” which involves numbers and rhymes. So, for example, bunny number 1 is named Abel and sleeps on a table…the student could say the numbers and point to some of the things mentioned in the book and also items in the lab as she read it, just as a mother would do for a toddler.

Athena & Griffin’s Differing “Book Reviews”

Athena didn’t seem very interested (i.e., only looked to see what was interesting to Griffin!), but Griffin was intrigued…he even said a very clear “THREE” right after the student, Becky, started the rhyme about bunny number 3. Maybe it was just an accident, repeating the number after her, but she said he was eyeing the book as she was going through it. Sadly, he didn’t say any of the other numbers (he can say “one” through “eight,” with the exception of “five”—the reason he refuses to say that number might be that /f/ and /v/ are difficult to produce without lips, though Alex had no trouble). Maybe next time?

This anecdote made me wonder if there are other good books out there, ones that involve common objects and colors, that might intrigue both our birds? Remember, Athena didn’t really connect with the activity at the time, and I don’t think Griffin was particularly interested in the bunnies; rather, he may have recognized the numerals and the labels. Thus, I’m not sure he’d want to hear us read about cows or pigs, or boats or fish…but maybe something involving colored blocks and balls, shapes, fruits, and other simple items? I can almost see an enterprising student “writing” a book specifically for Griffin, about “three purple grapes” and “two pieces of banana” that are in a big “bowl”, and how the character needs a “shower” after eating “sticky orange yam.”

My point here is that reading could be an activity that you might be able to share with your parrots, depending on their particular interests. Some birds might find it fun to listen to you read to them and point out objects as you label them; other birds might find this exercise totally boring, with their only interest in seeing if they can tear apart the paper pages! But you won’t know until, like my student, you give it a try….