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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Humor • Parrots • Pets • Streaming videos
Posted on: December 2, 2008 8:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Snowball, dancing cockatoo, behavior, streaming video
This streaming video is a clip from a longer DVD, Snowball's Snowy Christmas DVD, which is now available for Christmas gift giving. Children love Snowball and this DVD features the sulfur-crested cockatoo, Snowball, dancing to Christmas carols.
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Comments
Awwww! That's cute! Thanks for the video!
Posted by: Crazyharp81602 | December 2, 2008 11:19 AM
Snowball is a medium sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), not a parrot!
I wrote a paper on Snowball for Irene Pepperberg's "Animal Cognition" class at Harvard Extension last spring.
Posted by: Dexter | December 2, 2008 12:16 PM
P.S.: I meant that in regard to the title of the posting, of course.
Posted by: Dexter | December 2, 2008 12:18 PM
dexter -- even though i have not written a paper for Irene Pepperberg's Animal Cognition class at Harvard Extension, as a professional ornithologist who studies the evolution of parrots, i can say that, without a doubt, you are wrong. cockatoos are well-established members of the taxonomic order, Psittaciformes, both morphologically as well as genetically, and as a result, they are parrots.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | December 2, 2008 12:31 PM
Yes, I'm also well aware that cockatoos are members of Psittaciformes. But as a former editor, I can assure you that the title line will be misleading to all of your readers who aren't experts on the evolution of Psittasicformes.
Posted by: Dexter | December 2, 2008 12:43 PM
Dexter,
As a current aviculturist, I can assure you that 100% of people interested in cockatoos are certain that the birds are parrots, as the commonly accepted definition of a parrot is a "hook-beaked bird having a short, squared tail."
Now, to borrow from a friend's sig:
Being kind is more important ... than being important.
"You be good.....see you tomorrow.......I love you."
--Alex the African Grey Parrot (1976-2007)
Regards,
Kathy
Houston TX
Posted by: Kathleen B. Heaton | December 2, 2008 1:21 PM
wow. just .. wow.
(i don't think that people are quite as stupid as you give them credit for.)
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | December 2, 2008 1:39 PM
Wow! That move at 2:45 into the video rocks - I think Snowball should be on MTV's "Headbanger's Ball". Cool Parratoo ...Cockakeet, whatever....
P.S. (GrrlSci. is right. Cockatoos are parrots just as beagles are dogs. It doesn't take a PHD to know that)
Posted by: Jim F. | December 2, 2008 2:55 PM
Hey Dev ..you go girl!
Cockatoo have no gall bladder no Dyck texture feathers so no color most of the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatoo
Snowball and, songbirds, parrots and dolphins ( whales etc.) have the ability to show the ability to "dance" to music.. amazing that even though we are closet to primates ,they cannot "dance" like a species that does verbally vocalize in a language form made up of sounds and not based on of body language.
Neurologist Dr. Aniruddh D. Patel of TheNeurosciences Institute in San Diego California , analyzed
Snowball's ability to synchronize his movements to music with the help of John Iversen, Joanne Jaoand
and Micah Bregman. , in the hope to help humans with medical neuro problems.
Ciao, Angela Rosaria Cancilla Herschel in Southern California ......
Being kind is more important ... than being important.
"You be good.....see you tomorrow.......I love you." --Alex the African Grey Parrot (1976-2007)
Posted by: Angela Cancilla Herschel | December 2, 2008 5:28 PM
Just to say I LOVE that beautifull snowball, from Quebec (Canada
Posted by: Marie-france Blondeau | December 12, 2008 2:07 AM
It's not dancing, but I've long wanted to record the interaction of our African Grey with music the radio. It's not random response nor is it mimicry, but you cannot listen to that bird without being convinced that he at some level understands the music in a significant way. His vocalizations are appropriate and on beat, his response to opera is very different from his response to Mississippi blues, but equally enthusiastic. Sometimes it's rhythmic interaction, sometimes it sounds like harmonizing, sometimes he'll take the melody and improvise. The bird 'gets it'
I am well aware of the dangers of anthromorphising, but I can't believe that a person could listen to this and not be convinced there is some form of comprehension going on.
Posted by: jay | December 26, 2008 7:58 PM
I just wanted to comment on this last post--who says his parrot "gets it". I only have a cockatiel--and there are times when he is vocalizing and looking at me--I feel that he "gets" what he is doing too. I read the book "Alex and Me" by Irene Pepperberg.That book had a profound effect on me.I am sure that African Greys are the most intelligent of all the parrots.I love birds and have learned a lot about them after living with them so long.I believe you should have to take a test on bird behavior before being allowed to own one! Please don't quote Alex so much--it makes me cry!
Posted by: Charlene | March 21, 2009 7:21 PM
WHERE CAN I SEE ALEX?
Posted by: MARIE ARMSTRONG | May 22, 2009 9:55 PM