The Associated Press: Parrot honored for warning that girl was choking
A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.
Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter’s Animal Lifesaver Award.
In November, Willie’s owner, Megan Howard, was baby-sitting for a toddler. Howard left the room and the little girl, Hannah, started to choke on her breakfast.
Willie repeatedly yelled “Mama, baby” and flapped his wings, and Howard returned in time to find the girl already turning blue.
Howard saved Hannah by performing the Heimlich maneuver but said Willie “is the real hero.”
Now I understand why pirates keep these things on thier shoulders.
Call me back when the parrot performs the Heimlich maneuver.
This bird is certainly no “birdbrain”
Unfortunately the term “birdbrain” does refer to many of the human beings i meet
More likely, the parrot was just pissed the kiddie was eating HIS bird food. But we humans need heroes, a steady supply of heroes. Just like parrots need cereal.
bobbo…read this article if you have time:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/animal-minds/virginia-morell-text.html
I’ve had birds, and they can do some amazing stuff. Everyone with a ‘smart’ bird breed can tell you the same type of stories, maybe not as dramatic as this one, but don’t dismiss the possibility that some birds have real intelligence and awareness.
#5–Olo==I agree animals have sensory abilities many times more acute than humans. Dogs and Cats smelling cancer for instance, or hearing their owners car on the road 30 seconds before the car is heard by humans and 2 minutes before parking in the driveway. The observed behavior can be linked to very specific skills present in the animal.
Maybe this bird reacted to “something” but “the behavior” of the child is doubtful. One characteristics of HUMANS is to anthropomorphize all animals and especially their pets. More people think their pets are more perceptive than they really are.
So I linked the animals behavior to something most animals react to–their food.
Seems to me until confirming repeat demonstrations are documented, or the exact stimulus the bird was reacting to is identified and explained, that my explanation is far more rational than an article on chimps learning sign language.
bobbo, your explanation is rational in terms of the traditional assumptions of animal intelligence. Read the article. Those assumptions are turning out to be wrong.
#7–Olo==humans are animals too, something you and the article are not taking into account at all.
I skimmed the article and found nothing relevant to the case at hand. Are we learning more about the universe around us including other species? Yes. Article just last week about chimps or gorillas “planning” an attack against a rival tribe to take place a few hours later. Not surprising at all. Language skills without verbalization skills also always interesting.
But if you want to claim to “know” the mind of this bird rather than be skeptical, thats fine. You are just evidencing your mind, as I am mine.
OK Mr. Skeptic…why did the bird wait until the kid was choking to make a ruckus?
This is like creationism…there’s plenty of evidence but the target keeps getting moved by the deniers. 🙂
#9–Olo==post hoc ergo proctor hoc?
OK, but it’s thin.
Parrots are super smart creatures… except for my mother’s sun conure that ate one of her diamond earrings. Not so smart.
Still have the scar where a sulfur crested parrot peeled my fingernail off.