Captive parrots seem to enjoy video chatting with friends via Messenger

Parrots are naturally social animals. In captivity, they often don’t have a group to interact with, which can cause them some real challenges keeping them happy and healthy. But recent research suggests technology may be able to help them meet more of their social needs. A study led by researchers from the University of Glasgow and Northeastern University compared the responses of parrots when they were able to video chat with other birds via Meta Messenger and watch pre-recorded videos. They seem to prefer instant conversations.

The research builds on a series of smaller studies over the past few years, including one where a research team trained pet parrots to video call each other (with help from humans) and another where they taught them to play tablet games. Recently, nine parrot owners were given tablets for their pets and then observed them for six months. During that time, the parrots – who were initially introduced to each other via video chat – were able to talk for up to three hours on a total of 12 calls. Half of the meetings feature pre-recorded video, while the other half are live Messenger video chats.

Caregivers who documented these sessions reported that the birds seemed more engaged during live interactions. In these cases, they initiated more calls and spent more time on average interacting with the bird on the other end.

Parrots can make up to two calls per session, and the researchers found that people chatting via Messenger reached this limit 46 percent of the time, compared with almost half the time when watching pre-recorded videos. Overall, they spent a total of 561 minutes video chatting on Messenger and only 142 minutes watching pre-recorded videos.

“The presence of ‘activity’ does seem to have an impact on the parrot’s interaction with the screen,” said Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, though she noted that further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. “Their behavior when interacting with another live bird often mirrors the behavior they would engage in with other parrots in real life, which was not the case in pre-recorded sessions.” Still, caregivers mostly reported that live and pre-recorded calls all appear to have a positive impact on the birds.

“The Internet has huge potential to allow animals to interact with each other in new ways, but the systems we build to help them do this need to be designed around their specific needs and physical and mental abilities,” said Dr. Douglas. “Research like this could help lay the foundation for a truly animal-centered internet.”