en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_bird
2 corrections found
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) is rated as a fair-to-good talker.
The scientific name is mismatched here: the sulphur-crested cockatoo is Cacatua galerita, while Cacatua sulphurea is the yellow-crested cockatoo.
Full reasoning
This sentence pairs the common name sulphur-crested cockatoo with the wrong scientific name.
Authoritative bird references identify the sulphur-crested cockatoo as Cacatua galerita, not Cacatua sulphurea. The Australian Museum's species page for the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo lists its scientific name as Cacatua galerita. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lists Cacatua sulphurea as the yellow-crested cockatoo, which is a different species.
So the article's parenthetical scientific name is incorrect even if the general statement about talking ability is intended for a cockatoo species.
2 sources
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo - The Australian Museum
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo ... Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
- Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Scientific Name Cacatua sulphurea Common Name Yellow-crested Cockatoo
Songbirds and parrots are the two groups of birds able to learn and mimic human speech.
This is too narrow: documented speech imitation is not limited to songbirds and parrots. Australian musk ducks, which are waterfowl, have also been shown to imitate a human voice.
Full reasoning
This sentence is contradicted by documented evidence from another bird group.
A 2021 peer-reviewed study in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B reports vocal learning in the Australian musk duck (Biziura lobata), a waterfowl species in the order Anseriformes. The authors state that a hand-reared musk duck imitated "a human voice", and describe this as evidence for advanced vocal learning in a bird outside the songbird/parrot groups. PubMed's abstract for the same paper likewise says the study provides evidence for vocal learning in the Australian musk duck and that a hand-reared individual imitated "a slamming door and a human voice."
Because waterfowl are neither songbirds nor parrots, the article's claim that songbirds and parrots are the two groups able to learn and mimic human speech is incorrect.
2 sources
- Vocal imitations and production learning by Australian musk ducks (Biziura lobata) - PMC
Here, we provide evidence for vocal learning in ... the Australian musk duck (Biziura lobata). A hand-reared individual imitated a slamming door and a human voice.
- Vocal imitations and production learning by Australian musk ducks (Biziura lobata) - PubMed
For birds, oscine and some suboscine songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds demonstrate this ability. Here, we provide evidence for vocal learning in ... the Australian musk duck (Biziura lobata). A hand-reared individual imitated a slamming door and a human voice.