Animal Intelligence

It has been a long time since I posted here. It’s not for lack of material. Animal Intelligence doesn’t have a lot of readers, but you few brave souls continue to send me good stories.

For example, here’s a story about Yosuke the Japanese parrort. When Yosuke escaped from his cage, he was able to return home because he knew his address. From the CNN story:

“I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

“We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we’ve found Yosuke,” Uemura said.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

This instance may or may not be indicative of animal intelligence, but it’s still a fun story. I grew up around birds, and I know they’re smart. Once our yellow-naped Amazon flew from one end of the house to the other and crashed into the piture window at full speed, falling to the ground stunned. I rushed over to see him stand up, shake his feathers, and announce, “That was fun.” To this day I have no idea if he had any idea what he was saying. (I had also taught him to say “I’m Superman” but that phrase wasn’t appropriate to the situation.)

[CNN: Lost parrot gives vet his name and address]