People are astonished the first time they hear a parrot say
“Hello!” when the phone rings, ask “Who is it?” when the doorbell
rings, or greet someone familiar by name. But even though it’s an as-
tonishing achievement for a bird to say even one word, many don’t
really give it due consideration. Over time, they may even come to
see it as normal and commonplace.
Not only does the bird see and recognize the person approach-
ing; what’s more, the bird knows how to react to a person it knows.
It remembers—and reproduces—words it associates with that per-
son. This is evident proof that the bird has an accurate memory. If
we consider that some species of birds seem to understand ques-
tions they are asked and give a seemingly logical answer, the issue
becomes even more complex. One important example of this is a
trained grey parrot by the name of Alex. When he’s presented with
a red (rose) piece of paper and asked “What color?” he answers
“rose.”
4
In later sections, we’ll mention more of this parrot’s skills
in more detail.
A bird possessing such talents is a great wonder of creation, for
birds and other animals do not have free will and reason, and do not
share the human characteristics of thought, the ability to make con-
scious decisions and the determination to carry them out. The abili-
ty to talk and imitate sounds is taught by God to certain species of
birds. These creatures do not talk
because of their own rational
thought, will or consciousness,
21
For a long time, it was thought that
parrots and other talking birds merely
imitated, but recent research has
shown these creatures to have remark-
able mental abilities.
The Special Design which
nables Birds to Produce Sound
