Parrot-to-Parrot Video Calls

[CloudWatcher]

I'm starting to question if I've been developing software for the wrong species! In a few years it might be considered cruel not to let your pets go online.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581166

Birds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical Enrichment.

Abstract

Over 20 million parrots are kept as pets in the US, often lacking appropriate stimuli to meet their high social, cognitive, and emotional needs. After reviewing bird perception and agency literature, we developed an approach to allow parrots to engage in video-calling other parrots. Following a pilot experiment and expert survey, we ran a three-month study with 18 pet birds to evaluate the potential value and usability of a parrot-parrot video-calling system. We assessed the system in terms of perception, agency, engagement, and overall perceived benefits. With 147 bird-triggered calls, our results show that 1) every bird used the system, 2) most birds exhibited high motivation and intentionality, and 3) all caretakers reported perceived benefits, some arguably life-transformative, such as learning to forage or even to fly by watching others. We report on individual insights and propose considerations regarding ethics and the potential of parrot video-calling for enrichment.

Figure 1: Ten instances of pet parrots in video calls with other parrots. Each bird triggered the call with corroboration. From top left to right: P16 calling P18, P1 calling P2, P8 calling P7, P14 calling P4, and P7 calling P6. From bottom left to right: P13 calling P4, P6 calling P8, P4 calling P3, P18 calling P16, and P17 calling P18

And of course, this brings to mind Peter Steiner's 1993 classic cartoon:

[momta]

1. K & R

[erronis]

2. That totally makes sense to me. I visit several shut-ins who have parrots/parakeets

When I come in they vocalize and bob and strut. Obviously want to make communication. But I am way too dumb.

I love the idea of a social-media network just for these birds. No humans allowed!

[ultralite001]

3. Their video is delightful...

[ultralite001]

4. Makes me miss our African Grey...

Zane Grey...

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Thanks so much for sharing this. ❤️

[flamingdem]

6. Parrots are amazing but shouldn't be kept as pet

I say that as a previous owner.

I adored my buddy but it's not right.

We used to sing together to certain records.

He really did want and need to communicate.

But he needed another bird, not me!

[BadgerKid]

7. Soon followed by bird dating web sites.

[ultralite001]

8. 🤣🤣🤣

TIA...

[CloudWatcher]

9. Orangutans

You laugh, but .... from the paper (emphasis added...):

In recent decades, the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community has worked on providing tools, approaches and applications to help support the well-being and socialization of captive animals [54]. These include systems to allow dogs to remotely interact [35], Tinder-like apps for orangutans [72] and music players for zoo-housed birds to interact with visitors [44].