Over the course of three months, researchers followed 18 parrots who were taught to ring a bell in order to signal that they wished to make a call.
Parrots that can talk to their « friends » over video chat feel less lonely and have an improved quality of life, scientists say.
In a new study published in Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System, domesticated parrots were trained to signal to make video calls to other birds.
During the three-month study, animal-computer interaction specialists at the University of Glasgow, Northeastern University, and MIT collaborated to investigate the effects of increased interaction between the pets.
They examined over 1,000 hours of video observations of 18 parrots, finding that the they engaged more regularly in social behavior like singing and preening.
