What is it about?
Do animals use names for each other? People have long asked this question, but it can be very difficult to answer. Researchers have looked for evidence of name use among wild animals, but always stop short of concluding that animals use names in a human-like way because we can’t fully decode animal sounds that are so different from our own. We tackled this problem in a new way: we looked for evidence of name use among parrots that live with humans and mimic human language, including recognizable names. Results from a survey of over 880 parrots indicated that captive parrots of many species can use names in appropriate, individualized ways to refer correctly to humans and animals (sometimes even when those individuals are not present).
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Photo by Sid Balachandran on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Our results shed light on parrot social interactions, parrot awareness of the individuality of different beings, how different species communicate with each other, and the potential for animal name use in nature. We think our findings will have broad appeal to the millions of people worldwide who live with or admire parrots.
Perspectives
This article confirms that diverse species of parrots can learn and use names. In single-bird studies, individuals like the Grey Parrot Alex showed that they could use names, but it wasn't clear whether those birds were exceptional. Our data suggest that they are not. Many parrots can talk about each other and their humans using names. If you know a parrot that uses names or other words, tell us about it here: https://www.manyparrots.org/
Lauryn Benedict
University of Northern Colorado
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Name use by companion parrots, PLOS One, April 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0346830.
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