The video of the owner training him to turn right near the bottom of the page almost appears as if the parrot is messing with the guy and purposely not turning in the correct manner. Made me smile when he kept putting him back in the initial position only to see him turn in a different way.
Given the intelligence of African Gray Parrots (which is estimated to be around a 4 or 5 year old child), there's a good chance the bird was doing it intentionally when it kept having to repeat the task over and over.
Birds like this are supposed to also get extremely attached to their owner (as much as any owner and their dog), especially when they don't have a mate. Some get to the point if they're away from their owner for more than a couple of days, they stress out and start pulling out their feathers in a non-healthy manner that's not just preening.
From friends that have birds, their chirps and squawks are as communicative as barks and meows of cats and dogs. There's also evidence that birds use those noises to communicate in an intelligent way with each other (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July11/ParrotNaming.html). They're trying to say what they can in the only way they know how. Even if one happens to bite, it's generally trying to tell you something and is at a loss of how else to express it (which is rarely meant to hurt you, since their beaks could do serious damage if they wanted). Some do bite for other reasons, but those tend to be from the owner not training it properly. Training a parrot from observing friends with them appears as daunting as training an intelligent breed of dog.
Seems like building the buggy though solved the poor bird's frustrations. He most likely did feel abandoned when his owner left the room.
Given the intelligence of African Gray Parrots (which is estimated to be around a 4 or 5 year old child), there's a good chance the bird was doing it intentionally when it kept having to repeat the task over and over.
Birds like this are supposed to also get extremely attached to their owner (as much as any owner and their dog), especially when they don't have a mate. Some get to the point if they're away from their owner for more than a couple of days, they stress out and start pulling out their feathers in a non-healthy manner that's not just preening.
From friends that have birds, their chirps and squawks are as communicative as barks and meows of cats and dogs. There's also evidence that birds use those noises to communicate in an intelligent way with each other (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July11/ParrotNaming.html). They're trying to say what they can in the only way they know how. Even if one happens to bite, it's generally trying to tell you something and is at a loss of how else to express it (which is rarely meant to hurt you, since their beaks could do serious damage if they wanted). Some do bite for other reasons, but those tend to be from the owner not training it properly. Training a parrot from observing friends with them appears as daunting as training an intelligent breed of dog.
Seems like building the buggy though solved the poor bird's frustrations. He most likely did feel abandoned when his owner left the room.