The week's good news: May 4, 2023

It wasn't all bad!

Pet birds (budgerigar parrots)
(Image credit: Jan Sochor/Getty Images)

1. Pet parrots form friendships through video chats

A feathered friend is just a phone call away. Parrots are smart, social creatures, and a group of scientists recently studied 18 pet birds to see whether they could use technology to forge relationships. The parrots were taught to ring a bell if they wanted to request a video call, and then could look at a tablet with photos of other study participants to choose who to chat with. The owners were told to keep the calls short and end them if their parrot became distressed. "The notion of choice was very important," researcher Rebecca Kleinberger told The New York Times. The parrots learned the bell system fast, and were regularly asking for calls. The owners reported they enjoyed connecting with their new friends and were highly engaged, looking intently at the screens, mirroring behavior, and singing. There are risks with too much screen time for parrots, but also social benefits — the birds, researcher Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas told the Times, use this technology "in very individual and very beautiful ways."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.