Do Pet Parrots Actually Understand What Human Words Mean? It's Complicated

The desire to communicate with pets is a long-held dream among many loving owners. When it comes to our most common companions, we continue to learn how dogs understand our words and what cat noises really mean. However, for the most talkative pet, the parrot, how much language birds actually understand and how much is just associating words with specific actions remains uncertain.

Many experts are conflicted about how much parrot behavior is a result of simple mimicry and how much is associated with specific human actions. Dr. Irene Pepperberg of Harvard told Audubon that parrot communication in human language may stem from the need for safety in numbers, stating, "A single bird in the wild is a dead bird; It can't look for food and look for predators at the same time." Therefore, wild birds speak to each other to keep each other safe. In the same article, specialist Dr. Timothy Wright explains that a parrot may say something like "Hello, how are you?" when it sees its owner, but this response is likely the result of learning through repetition rather than understanding the words as an actual greeting and question.

While a clear answer to whether parrots understand human language remains vague, there is still much to learn about the way parrots communicate. Moreover, feathered pet parents should not feel any less love or wonder for their companions' impressive skill set.

Even if parrots mimic their owners and react to cues and daily interactions, this doesn't diminish the birds' remarkable ability to learn another language. For example, the African grey parrot has the most extensive human vocabulary, with the capacity to learn over 1,000 words and an intelligence similar to that of a young toddle (think 2 to 3 years old).

A 2024 study by cognitive biologist Dr. Désirée Brucks at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany found that African grey parrots also possess striking social intelligence (via Parrot Essentials). The study involved two parrots separated but able to pass objects to each other. One received shiny objects, while the other did not. Both had access to food from humans, but the parrot with the shiny objects started sharing with the other in exchange for food from its cohabitor, even though there was no incentive to do so other than to help one another.

Ultimately, parrots possess a rich vocabulary and remarkable intelligence. So, while it's still unclear whether parrots actually know what human words mean or if they're simply mimicking us, it's clear that they're smarter than many may have thought. For more unique bird stories, check out how birds-of-paradise play an interesting trick on our eyes.