Babbling discovered in wild baby parrots

[Still Waters]

A team of researchers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, working with colleagues from several research facilities in Venezuela, has found evidence of babbling in wild baby parrots.

Human beings have known for thousands of years that parrots have extraordinary vocal abilities—not only do they communicate well, but they can imitate other species including humans. But in all that time, the babbling of baby parrots has gone unobserved. The researchers suggest that this is because they live inside holes in trees where no one but their parents and siblings can hear them.

https://phys.org/news/2022-06-babbling-wild-baby-parrots.html

In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes the unique vocalizations of the baby birds, similar to human infants, and what they learned about the role of stress hormones in the development of their communication skills.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0592