The skill is the ability to imitate sounds, to glean acoustic information and use it for one’s own vocal production—a vital prerequisite for language. It’s called vocal learning, and it’s rare in the animal world, thus far found only in parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, the bellbirds, a few marine mammals (such as dolphins and whales), bats, and one primate—humans.
Yet the World Book Encyclopaedia back in the late 1940s pooh-poohed any correlation between birds’ mimicry abilities and their intelligence. I wonder what they would say now?
