Why can parrots copy what we say but mammals can’t? Aren’t we closer related to mammals than birds?
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A parrot is just mimicking the sound it hears. It’s not necessarily cognitively processing the words.
No joke, I’ve heard a cat say “Hello… Hello???” down an empty hallway.
Parrots have a fundamentally different way of reproducing sound.
Humans have vocal cords that can vibrate at a single frequency at a time, then we change the shape of our mouth in order to create resonances and modify that sound. We imitate sounds by experimenting and figuring out ways to move our mouth and tongue and vocal cords until we can reproduce it.
Parrots have a completely different vocal organ called a syrinx, it can produce at least two sounds simultaneously, giving it a lot more flexibility. They don’t have to simulate the same resonances; they can use two sounds to mimic the same thing.
Finally, parrots have evolved a native ability to mimic sounds. They don’t have to experiment and figure out how to move their organs just right – they’re born knowing how.
The size of the mammals brain limits the size of the auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing sound. Birds have a similar sized auditory cortex relative to their brain size, which might be one reason why they are better at copying sounds than mammals.
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