{"id":20107,"date":"2022-12-09T11:31:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T10:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&#038;p=20107"},"modified":"2022-12-09T11:31:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T10:31:09","slug":"how-do-parrots-say-human-words-without-lips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/12\/09\/how-do-parrots-say-human-words-without-lips\/","title":{"rendered":"How do parrots say human words without lips?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>How do parrots say human words without lips?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center intro\">SARAH PHELPS, VIA EMAIL<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"no-tts wp-block-image article-in-image photo\"><figure class=\"no-tts aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\" src=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-1024x731.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"no-tts wp-image-20572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-1024x731.png 1024w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-300x214.png 300w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-768x548.png 768w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.png 1401w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">My friend\u2019s African Grey parrot speaks so convincingly, she can order herself treats via the family\u2019s smart assistant. No lips, no vocal cords, just sheer opportunism. She does this by using her syrinx, a hollow, Y-shaped structure unique to birds, that sits between the base of the windpipe and the lungs. As the bird breathes, air passes through the syrinx, which vibrates and makes a noise. The form of this noise is acutely controlled by a series of muscles and soft bony rings on the outside of the syrinx. This enables parrots to sing, call and mimic words, such as \u2018Pretty Polly\u2019 and \u2018Alexa, buy more millet\u2019. <strong>HP<\/strong><em><strong> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"no-tts wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-1340244724.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-uagb-section uagb-section__wrap uagb-section__background-color uagb-block-86f5e12f-ed0c-40ce-b7b8-606f08cd8071\"><div class=\"uagb-section__overlay\"><\/div><div class=\"uagb-section__inner-wrap\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-ccp-primary-light-color has-text-color\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-ccp-primary-light-color\">Email your questions to<\/span> <br><a href=\"mailto:questions@sciencefocus.com\">questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a> <br><span class=\"has-inline-color has-ccp-primary-light-color\">or submit on Twitter<\/span> <br><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sciencefocus\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sciencefocus\">@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<p class=\"footer\">IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES, VIDEO: GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do parrots say human words without lips? SARAH PHELPS, VIA EMAIL My friend\u2019s African Grey parrot speaks so convincingly, she can order herself treats via the family\u2019s smart assistant. No lips, no vocal cords, just sheer opportunism. She does this by using her syrinx, a hollow, Y-shaped structure unique to birds, that sits between [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"76","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"76","purple_seq_number":"3","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"3","purple_source_article":"article_76-3.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_76-3.xml","purple_source_issue":"December-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"December-2022","purple_external_id":"December-2022-76-3","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"December-2022-76-3","purple_issue_code":"|0000089661||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089661||","purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue385","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue385","purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue385","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue385","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"0f422ad1-c939-476d-9f82-a410052ad4c3","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-12-05T12:14:26Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"1727d1ce-ab0d-491b-bd14-c673fef86f2f","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-12-09T10:31:16Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AFyfRzqsNSRu9FMZz_vhvLw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[15,14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.jpg",800,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.jpg",800,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/GettyImages_1069565194.jpg",800,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How do parrots say human words without lips? SARAH PHELPS, VIA EMAIL My friend\u2019s African Grey parrot speaks so convincingly, she can order herself treats via the family\u2019s smart assistant. No lips, no vocal cords, just sheer opportunism. She does this by using her syrinx, a hollow, Y-shaped structure unique to birds, that sits between&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20107"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21077,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20107\/revisions\/21077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}