IndianRingNeck.com

Lol, yea I know.. odd title. It's just a simply question though I promise...

When IRNs "talk" do they understand any meaning as to WHY theyre saying why they are? Like do they actually use their " voices " as a means of communication? ie: If an IRN says " Bath Time ", or " Treat " are they saying it because they want a bath, or a treat or just because its a sound they know how to make.. so they make it? lol

Depending on the bird, I think they **may** have some level of understanding of context but not the exact meaning of words. For example, my female IRN, Janey, runs around on the floor yelling out "Janey! Janey!" when she is looking for us. She figures that if we use that word to call her, then she can use it to call us too.... I think she thinks "Janey" means, "Come to me".

I've heard of aviary birds trying to soothe others when there was a bit of a comotion saying "Shhh, it's ok" similar to what their owner does (i think i read that somewhere)... in that case, the bird recognised the context and repeated what the owner would normally do.

Alex, the African Grey, was known for his intelligent use of language.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29

I hope that helps.

Ellie.