TPC Jul 2024 Zoom Meeting - Dr. Lauryn Benedict - The Many Parrots Project

Dr. Lauryn Benedict of the University of Northern Colorado, head of the Many Parrots Project, talks about what companion parrots tell us about vocal learning. Companion parrots provide a valuable source of data for comparative study of vocal learning among species, sexes, and age groups. Her lab studies parrot vocal mimicry of humans as a metric of vocal learning. Read about their work in this Forbes article (www.forbes.com...) and this two minute NPR story (www.npr.org/20....
Dr. Benedict is an ornithologist and animal behaviorist interested in avian vocalizations. She has worked mostly on wild songbirds, but recently began studying the fascinating sounds of parrots. You can read more about her research interests at this website (www.unco.edu/n..., and you can learn about her research projects studying parrots at this website (www.manyparrot.... In her talk Dr. Benedict discusses results (to date) of the “What Does Polly Say? survey that revealed how parrot species differ in their mimicry of human words and sounds. She also describes how you can contribute to this research by reporting information about your companion parrot. They need more human/bird participants! Their two surveys can be found here (www.manyparrot.... If your bird sings, whistles, or talks, please join in the fun!