Ellie, an 11-year-old cockatoo, chats with a feathery pal over a video name.

Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

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Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Ellie, an 11-year-old cockatoo, chats with a feathery pal over a video name.

Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Once upon a time, Polly simply wished a cracker. Nowadays, Polly may desire a Zoom name.

A recent study took 18 pet parrots and examined whether or not video calls might assist them fulfill their social wants.

Parrots are extremely socially advanced creatures, and surpass 6- and 7-year-old kids in puzzle duties and reminiscence expertise, says Jennifer Cunha of Northeastern University, who co-authored the examine.

“They have high mental needs that aren’t always catered to very well in companion situations,” she stated.

And pet birds of a feather should not at all times flock collectively, in accordance with one other lead researcher, Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas from the University of Glasgow.

“A very high percentage of them have diseases which can be transferred when in-person interaction takes place,” Hirskyj-Douglas stated.

So Hirskyj-Douglas and Cunha obtained along with lead creator Rébecca Kleinberger, additionally of Northeastern University, to see if parrots in captivity might discover companionship by means of video calls.

Researchers discovered that video calling expertise might reproduce a number of the social advantages of dwelling in a flock.

Northeastern University/Glasgow University

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Northeastern University/Glasgow University

They taught them to ring a bell, after which a pill could be introduced. One or two pictures of fellow parrots would seem on a telephone or pill, and utilizing their beaks or tongues, the parrots would select.

To see how a lot the parrots really wished to spend time on video chats, researchers measured engagement and company.

“So how frequently they rang the parrots when the system was available and then how quickly they use the system,” Hirskyj-Douglas defined.

They have been ready to see destructive reactions from the birds, like aggression. But as a substitute, they are saying they noticed a variety of social behaviors they might doubtlessly see between birds that have been collectively or within the wild.

“So mirroring behaviors where they might move in the same kind of way, dancing, singing together,” Cunha stated. “They really seem to, as one owner said, come alive during the calls.”

Jennifer Cunha with Ellie the cockatoo at her residence in Florida.

Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

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Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Kleinberger stated whereas there was potential for connection between animals by means of the display screen, there have been additionally unknown dangers of exposing the birds to a brand new expertise, so that they needed to be cautious in coaching the homeowners and monitoring the video chats carefully. But the researchers did conclude that video calling expertise might reproduce a number of the social advantages of dwelling in a flock, even between parrot species.

And Cunha stated a number of the birds nonetheless ask to speak with their buddies.

“Some of the birds continue to call each other. So I think that there’s a lot of long-term potential for these kinds of relationships,” she stated.

In different phrases, perhaps what Polly needs is an enduring friendship, even by means of a display screen.