Some birds are so smart they can not only learn to speak like a human- they can also teach other birds how to speak.
And when these chatty birds escape from captivity they take their ability to imitate human language with them, and before you know it their new wild bird friends are asking for crackers and screaming curse words from the trees above.
According to ornithologist Jaynia Sladek from the Australian Museum birds that are natural mimickers hear birds saying human words and can't help but want to imitate these new sound cues:
Some birds are so smart they can not only learn to speak like a human- they can also teach other birds how to speak. And when these chatty little birds escape from captivity they take the knowledge of how to imitate human language with them, and before you know it wild birds are asking for crackers and screaming curse words from the trees above.
Wild birds are able to quickly learn from the chatty ex-pets and as a result, start picking up new words and sounds. The remnants of the language are often passed down to offspring. “There’s no reason why, if one comes into the flock with words, [then] another member of the flock wouldn’t pick it up as well,” Sladek told Australian Geographic.
Read Birds That Escape From Captivity Teach Wild Birds How To Speak (And Swear) In English here