‘There’s no escape from a different kind of ‘cage!’: Anand Mahindra shares video of parrot using a touchscreen

Parrots can understand touch screens & like watching other parrots. Sound familiar? Well ‘to parrot’ means to imitate. But please tell this parrot that once you begin imitating THIS habit of humans, there’s no escape from a different kind of ‘cage!’ pic.twitter.com/6F7wCuK7jA

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 17, 2023

This post has gathered over two lakh views. Commenting on it, an Instagram user wrote, “So you’re saying parrots are just a few tweets away from becoming Twitter addicts? Guess we’re not the only ones who can’t resist some screen time!” Another person wrote, “That’s quite a feather-ruffling observation. Indeed, parrots have an uncanny ability to mimic, but let’s hope they don’t pick up our screen addiction. They might find themselves stuck in a virtual “cage” of their own.”

A 2021 study done by the University of Auckland demonstrated that Kea, a species of parrots that are endemic to New Zealand, can use touchscreen devices using their tongues.

Professor Patrick Wood, from the University of Auckland who worked on the study, told Cosmos Magazine, “A parrot’s beak is a lot like your fingernail: it won’t activate a touchscreen. So, we had to teach them to lick the screen with their tongues. Once they acquired this skill, they quickly gained confidence using the touchscreens and they really seem to enjoy it, too.”