How do parrots talk or speak? Are their larynxes, tongues or brains different to other birds?
• Parrots are unusual. In most birds, sounds are created by a set of vibrating membranes in a pair of syrinxes - the lower larynx or voice organ in birds. One is found at the top of each bronchus coming from the lungs. But parrots have only one syrinx, situated at the bottom of the windpipe just above where the two bronchi meet. This is similar to humans, who also have only one sound-producing organ: the larynx.
Unlike most other birds, parrots also have very long and muscular tongues, which may be important in modifying sounds. Using the throat, mouth and tongue, parrots can alter dominant sound frequencies or "formants" to give the sound they want to make. For example, a parrot can make an "ee" rather than an "ah", sound by opening its ...
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