Charm Of A Parrot

There's a talking parrot in the balcony of a house near the cafe I go to most mornings. It always says 'piropo' (Spanish, meaning verbal compliments or flatteries to women) to females passing by, but only if they are wearing coloured clothing, not old ladies from head to toe in black! It did again this morning to me, something new he has learned to say! It somehow reminded me of another parrot who made big news a couple of years ago, in Japan.

The Japanese News Agency Kyodo distributed one of those very brief reports, that took no time at all being reproduced all over the world. The protagonist was a grey parrot that had gone astray. The police of the Japanese province of Chiba captured the fugitive later. As there were no suitable or available prison for a winged prisoner, the parrot was being kept in a veterinary clinic while they tried to decide what to do with it.

Following the normal procedures of any new interns to the clinic, the parrot was immediately given X-ray examination and injections, during all these the parrot won't stop repeating a name Yoshio Nakamura (which later found to be the name of his owner), and another name and a number, which only much later discovered to be the combination of the address, street name and house number, where he escaped from.

As it was not apparent from the beginning, what the parrot was saying had anything to do with the information of his identity, or that of his owner's, it had taken a couple of days before the clinic called the police when they got so irritated by the continuous repetition of the parrot's chanting. The police located Mr. Nakamura at the address given by the parrot and a happy ending of the story. So far all logical.

What's not so logical and often occurs is that most owners of the breed of parrot who process the ability to simulate sounds and learn to speak, would only teacher them to whistle at pretty girls, say flattering words to them; or swearing, or sing the hymn of their favourite football team. Mr. Nakamuro had the foresight to teach the parrot what is the most important. I can only add that he should have also taught the parrot to say the telephone number, the case for the police should have been closed sooner, so would the reunion.

This case managed to capture the world attention only because it was the parrot himself who provided the necessary information. We have always been fascinated by parrots who can speak, it denotes intelligence but, in actual fact, it's only their capacity of memory.

Modern day people let their memory stay idle more and more, relying on machines to do the job. Not too many of us can add up 3 simple digit figures without a calculator. According to the scientifically tested and proven theory, any of our organs not used over a long period of time deteriorates. I think it's about time we go backwards a little and learn to do certain things 'parrot fashioned'.

Tags:intelligence,memory

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