SkyandHoudini
New member
I haven't been on here for quite a while...I think I joined right around when classes we're getting pretty intensive...
But I've just had to come to say I think Sky's passed the mirror test!
So, we've done it twice, and my sister and I are almost convinced that Sky's passed the it!
We don't know how because we never really trained him.
So for those of you who don't know, you can in fact train birds to recognize themselves in the mirror, keyword being train. I don't think I've ever heard of a bird recognizing itself in the mirror naturally. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
The way this is verified when it was done with pigeons was, after the training, the conductors put a dot on the pigeon in a place out of the pigeon's sight. The pigeon, upon being placed in front of the mirror, recognized there was a dot on its back, therefore recognizing the fact that it was viewing itself in the mirror.
Now, the confusion for me and my sister is that, unlike with the pigeons, we never trained Sky. We KNEW for a fact, when he was young, that he DID NOT recognize himself in the mirror; constant attacks on the "other bird" reinforced this idea.
We think, from about six years of sparse observation of the mirror, Sky has actually learned without our assistance, that the mirror reflects the world around him. I think its because, at almost all times Sky has been faced with a mirror, I have also been present in the mirror, and the mirror has mimicked our actions (as it should
) each time Sky has seen the mirror. I think from these observation, he's learned that the mirror reflects us.
So, how did we test it?
We did the same on two separate days.
What we did was have my sister (who Sky attacks) stand behind him while I held him laying on his back in my palms. He recognized the fact that her body was behind him, but DID NOT recognize her finger poking him in the one blind spot behind parrot's heads. We repeated this poking about three or four times, both times when we did experiment. He did not react to her finger; indeed, he seemed to believe it was me. Then, we moved from a mirror-less environment to one with a mirror. Holding Sky in the same position, I stood so his view was parallel to the mirror. My sister resumed the position behind him, and raised her hand to poke him in the blind spot again. Sky reacted almost IMMEDIATELY when my sister lifted her hand to poke him, struggling to upright himself so he could turn and bite her. Like with the mirror-less situation, we did this three or four times. In the last try, where we poked him in front of the mirror, we did it three times. He reacted all times, but with the second try, he was a little slow to react.
What makes me even more suspicious that he recognizes himself is that he no longer attacks the other bird as frequently when he sees the reflection.
Either way, I think he has in fact trained himself to recognize himself in the mirror! We're really excited, especially me, and I'm going to try and do it again tomorrow. So proud of the little fluffer! This isn't the first time he's seemed to learn something on his own...parrots really are smarty pants!
But I've just had to come to say I think Sky's passed the mirror test!
So, we've done it twice, and my sister and I are almost convinced that Sky's passed the it!
We don't know how because we never really trained him.
So for those of you who don't know, you can in fact train birds to recognize themselves in the mirror, keyword being train. I don't think I've ever heard of a bird recognizing itself in the mirror naturally. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
The way this is verified when it was done with pigeons was, after the training, the conductors put a dot on the pigeon in a place out of the pigeon's sight. The pigeon, upon being placed in front of the mirror, recognized there was a dot on its back, therefore recognizing the fact that it was viewing itself in the mirror.
Now, the confusion for me and my sister is that, unlike with the pigeons, we never trained Sky. We KNEW for a fact, when he was young, that he DID NOT recognize himself in the mirror; constant attacks on the "other bird" reinforced this idea.
We think, from about six years of sparse observation of the mirror, Sky has actually learned without our assistance, that the mirror reflects the world around him. I think its because, at almost all times Sky has been faced with a mirror, I have also been present in the mirror, and the mirror has mimicked our actions (as it should
) each time Sky has seen the mirror. I think from these observation, he's learned that the mirror reflects us.So, how did we test it?
We did the same on two separate days.
What we did was have my sister (who Sky attacks) stand behind him while I held him laying on his back in my palms. He recognized the fact that her body was behind him, but DID NOT recognize her finger poking him in the one blind spot behind parrot's heads. We repeated this poking about three or four times, both times when we did experiment. He did not react to her finger; indeed, he seemed to believe it was me. Then, we moved from a mirror-less environment to one with a mirror. Holding Sky in the same position, I stood so his view was parallel to the mirror. My sister resumed the position behind him, and raised her hand to poke him in the blind spot again. Sky reacted almost IMMEDIATELY when my sister lifted her hand to poke him, struggling to upright himself so he could turn and bite her. Like with the mirror-less situation, we did this three or four times. In the last try, where we poked him in front of the mirror, we did it three times. He reacted all times, but with the second try, he was a little slow to react.
What makes me even more suspicious that he recognizes himself is that he no longer attacks the other bird as frequently when he sees the reflection.
Either way, I think he has in fact trained himself to recognize himself in the mirror! We're really excited, especially me, and I'm going to try and do it again tomorrow. So proud of the little fluffer! This isn't the first time he's seemed to learn something on his own...parrots really are smarty pants!
