The British nature reserve Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in 2020 became the cause of active discussion on the Internet — after it took custody of five jacko parrots, who speak mostly in obscenities. When this attracted the attention of visitors, access to the parrots was closed.
In an attempt to rehabilitate the foul-mouthed five, they were hooked up with a pack of relatives with a more decent vocabulary. The speech of the troubled parrots gradually softened as they learned new words and songs. If initially their ears were sluggish from their choice of words, then after a few months they were even returned to the area accessible to visitors. But I had to add a sign about possible abusive speech: despite the improvements, sometimes the mat still slipped.
Recently, the reserve received three more jacobs with a problematic language. To prevent the bad influence of two swearing companies, the employees decided to Lincolnshire Wildlife Park hatches plot to ‘dilute’ parrots’ swearing / BBC make friends with the whole eight with a large flock of 100 birds — with the hope that this will put their language in order.
They probably won't be able to unlearn the mat forever: the memory of talking parrots works in such a way that they usually do not forget what they have learned once. However, if they expand their vocabulary with what other birds know and learn to imitate new sounds, they will at least start swearing less often.
The head of the reserve, Steve Nichols, admits that the situation may take an uncomfortable turn if, as a result, eight birds teach the remaining hundred to mate. But employees are willing to take such a risk — and even point out that it's not necessarily something bad.
After all, you'll never get tired of hearing a parrot offer to send you to a certain destination. It's impossible to keep from laughing.
We will learn about the results of the experiment in the coming months.
