Question: Why can parrots talk whilst other birds can't?

Laurel Fogarty answered on 16 Jun 2010:

Hi Natalia! Some other birds can talk- parrots are the best at this, you’re right. African Grey parrots especially. If you are interested in this you should look up Alex the parrot. He was amazing and even managed to make sentences out of words he had picked up. He could answer simple questions about objects and could request food and water when he was hungry.

Parrots are intelligent as birds go and also have the right vocal equipment to mimic human sounds. Song birds for example don’t. Other birds can learn almost any other kind of sound. The Lyre bird in Australia can mimic camera shutters, car alarms and even (a little sadly) the chainsaws that cut down the forest it lives in. Check out this clip of it (and David Attenborough!) in action.