The internet has gone wild for a pet parrot determined to make a visiting neighborhood cat his best pal.
Coco is a Congo African grey parrot who lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with his owner, Claire, and whose frequent chatting and singing has made him a bit of a celebrity online.
On Claire’s TikTok account, @clairerosa90, Coco can be found singing songs, interacting with his owners or talking to himself—sometimes using rude words—which has proved a hit with followers.
Now a recent video of Coco trying to befriend a neighbor’s cat has gone viral racking up more than 1.8 million views since being posted on July 5.
In the clip, Coco sits on a perch attached to a window, and as a small black-and-white cat jumps on to the windowsill on the other side, Coco instantly tries to start up a conversation.
“Where’d you go, cat?” he repeats in a strong Northern Irish accent.
The cat, meanwhile, is staring back at him, looking nonplussed, as Coco taps his beak against the window and cries: “Look, a cat.”
Coco continues tapping against the window and saying hello, before changing tactics, and saying: “Look, a bird. Look, a cat.”
The video ends with the cat—who until now has been watching Coco without moving—jumping up and slapping its paw against the window, its hunting instincts having kicked in. But Coco, who jumps back, is safely behind the glass.
As the cat turns and leaves, Coco then lets out a meow, and tells it: “Come on, off you go cat.”
Claire posted the video with the words: “I will never not be amused by Coco thinking this neighbourhood cat is his best friend,” and added in the caption: “Another episode of unlikely animal friendships.”
TikTok users loved the video, awarding it more than 200,000 likes, as one wrote: “It’s mad that the bird knows what a cat is and can identify it.”
“You’re telling me they know what words mean?!?! I always thought they were just repeating sounds they frequently heard,” another shocked commenter said, as another admitted: “I never knew parrots could speak so clearly, it’s kind of creepy.”
And as one user put it: “It’s crazy how as a society we’ve completely accepted the fact that a bird can talk like that.”
African greys are highly intelligent and are recognized as one of the best talkers of all parrot species, according to VCA Animal Hospitals. Along with imitating human speech, from words to songs, they can also imitate electronic sounds, such as the ringing of the telephone or doorbell.
There have been studies that suggest some parrots do understand what they say: Irene Pepperberg, a research professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University, has long studied parrots and human language, and one subject, named Alex, had a prolific vocabulary.
Alex was trained using a methodology that ensured he understood that his words applied to certain objects or concepts—he had more than 100 words, could count up to six, and could describe items as bigger or smaller than others, according to LiveScience.
Newsweek has contacted @clairerosa90 via TikTok for comment on this story.
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