Alex the grey parrot, who famously asked “what color?” when looking in the mirror, had astonishing abilities to mimic human speech.
Interest in the ability of animals to learn sounds dates back thousands of years. Research on this ability, known as vocal learning, can shed light on the evolution of communication and human speech and language.
According to MPI’s Sonja Vernes, “comparative work investigating this trait across different types of animals is particularly important”. [Read more…] about How birds, mammals and children learn sounds