Why do parrots and other birds mimic human speech and other sounds?

serpa

Parrots talk or form sounds by expelling air across their syrinx, a distended portion of the trachea. Parrots are in general, intelligent birds, and are social creatures, so it may seem advantageous from a survival standpoint to learn the language of their new “flock” – the humans in their home. http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-parrots-talk.htm Sep 05 10, 7:59 AM

star_gazer

The question of why birds imitate remains open... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot#Sound_imitation_and_speech We can put a man on the moon, but still can't figure out why parrots talk. Sep 05 10, 5:11 PM

Baloo55th

An interesting bit of research would be on the calls of parrots in the wild. Some other birds imitate alien sounds - like blackbirds picking up telephone noises. Another imitator is the garden warbler (UK and Europe), which imitates the sounds of birds that are found where it winters in Africa - and which stay in Africa in the summer. Obviously, plagiarism is a key to reproductive success in garden warblers (or perhaps it's nostalgia?). If parrots imitate in the wild, that would be the answer - the girls like it... The reason they can imitate human speech is the structure of their vocal cords being suitable for the complexities of human speech. (Human vocal cords are not usually suitable for the even greater but different) complexities of 'ordinary' bird song. An exception, of course, was the great Percy Edwards. Do have a look at his filmography - you might get a shock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Edwards Sep 06 10, 6:57 AM