Polly wants a chatter! Pet parrots prefer live video calls with their friends over pre-recorded footage, study finds

They are the chatterboxes of the animal kingdom.

Now researchers have discovered that parrots even enjoy live video calls with friends.

A new study from the University of Glasgow shows that parrots who have had to make video calls via Facebook Messenger prefer live chats to listening to recorded messages.

And scientists think this is because the smart birds can tell the difference between live and pre-recorded videos.

They said the findings could pave the way for a future with an ‘animal-centric internet’, allowing pets to communicate with each other – and also with people – using technology.

The study, led by animal-computer interaction specialists at the University of Glasgow, gave tablets to nine parrots and their owners to investigate the video chats’ potential to ‘extend the birds’ social lives’.

Lead author Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas said: ‘By working closely with healthcare providers to design the study, we have gained new insight into how these intelligent birds respond to the complex stimuli that digital tablets can provide.

‘The appearance of ‘aliveness’ really seemed to make a difference in the parrots’ engagement with their screens.

‘Their behavior when interacting with another live bird often reflected the behavior they would exhibit in real life with other parrots, which was not the case in the pre-recorded sessions.

‘Some keepers believed their parrots were able to differentiate between sessions.

“One of them told us that their bird enjoyed singing with another live bird, but quickly lost interest when there was no response to their calls during pre-recorded videos.”

For the study, which also involved a team from Northeastern University in the US, the researchers wanted to explore the online social lives of nine parrots.

It builds on previous research by this team which found that parrots who video-called their friends were less lonely.

A profile was created for each bird with their photo and tablets were provided to their owners so the birds could make video calls on Facebook Messenger.

Experimental setup: A (trained) parrot is shown in its home environment with the recording device, the tablet, the stand for it and the bell with which it indicated that it wants a video call

Scientists believe the smart birds – which often suffer from loneliness in captivity – can tell the difference between live and pre-recorded videos

To investigate how parrots would respond to the choice, the researchers provided their keepers with tablets that contained large, bright buttons with images of the other birds in the study. Then the birds’ caretakers trained them to initiate Facebook Messenger calls by ringing a bell when they wanted to interact with the screen

The parrots were trained to ring a bell when they wanted to interact with the screen and also took part in a ‘meet and greet’ session where they were introduced to other birds.

Over a six-month period, the birds were then given access to twelve video sessions, six of which involved live conversations with their Facebook friends, while the remaining six involved pre-recorded videos of their bird contacts.

Findings showed that the parrots preferred live chats to pre-recorded sessions, spending a total of 561 minutes on live conversations, compared to 142 minutes on playback video.

The birds initiated 65 out of 108 possible calls in the live phase, but only 40 out of 108 during the pre-recorded sessions, the team said.

According to the findings, 77 percent of keepers said their parrot responded positively to the live calls and 70 percent said the same about the pre-recorded video.

Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas said: ‘Our previous research has shown that parrots appear to benefit from being able to video call each other, which could help reduce the mental and physical toll that living in domestic situations can take on them.

‘In the wild they live in herds and constantly socialize with each other.

The nine parrots (P1 to P9) were given access to 12 video sessions, six of which were live conversations with their Facebook friends (top), while the remaining six watched pre-recorded videos of their bird interactions (bottom). The birds gave 65 out of 108 possible calls in the live phase, but only 40 out of 108 in the pre-recorded sessions, the team said.

After a meet-and-greet session where the birds were introduced to each other via video chat, the birds were each given open access to the system for 12 sessions totaling 36 hours. They could make a maximum of two calls per session, for a maximum duration of three hours

The findings could help guide the future course of the emerging ‘animal internet’, where technology could ’empower’ animals to communicate with humans

‘As pets they are often kept alone, which can cause them to develop negative behaviour, such as excessive pacing or feather plucking.’

Although it was a small study and no definitive conclusions can be drawn, the initial results are convincing, according to Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas.

She said: ‘The internet offers many opportunities to give animals the ability to communicate with each other in new ways, but the systems we build to help them do this must be designed around their specific needs and physical and mental capabilities.

‘Studies like this can help lay the foundation for a truly animal-oriented internet.’

The findings will be presented at the Association of Computing Machinery’s CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.