Coco, an African Grey Parrot in Kaohsiung City’s Daliao District, not only talks to people, she also performs the “chain escape trick” used by illusionists. Coco’s owner first thought the padlock was broken, but surveillance camera recordings suggest Coco’s lock picking skills are improving and that her vocabulary keeps increasing.
The owner, Lin Hui-en, bought Coco a year ago. When the bird was four or five months old, Lin noticed that the leg chain often fell off. Concerned that the bird might fly away, she decided to add a padlock to the chain, but two locks later, the chain continued to come loose.
At first, Lin thought the lock was broken, but after changing it, the same thing happened again. Lin’s husband then installed a surveillance camera in the living room to solve the mystery. When they checked the footage a while back, they were surprised to see that Coco could open locks.
Photo: Hong Chen-hong, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者洪臣宏
Coco first opens the chain clasp with her beak. She then stands on one claw, and hits the perch with the padlock, using her claw, from different directions for about 10 minutes at a time. When she feels the time is right, she removes the padlock by vigorously stamping her claw.
Lin said Coco used to need one hour to remove the chain, but now it only takes 15 minutes, and the time needed to open the padlock has dropped from several hours to half an hour.
Another of Coco’s skills is to talk to people. When she sees Lin, she calls her “Ma”. When the doorbell rings, she says “Who are you? Get out!”, and when the owner brings her favorite snack, a banana, she says “I want!”
Lin said she never taught Coco any tricks, but that she treats her like a child and often talks to her and lets her listen to the radio. That is how she thinks Coco must have learned the vocabulary and sounds that Lin has never taught her, such as the wailing of ambulance sirens and the sound of braking cars. Sometimes Coco will even sing the ring tone on Lin’s husband’s mobile phone.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
高雄市大寮區的非洲鸚鵡「摳摳」不僅會與人對話，還會魔術師的開鎖「逃生術」，飼主還誤以為是掛鎖壞掉，後來從監視器發現牠開鎖技術越來越好，模擬講話的詞彙也愈來愈多。
飼主林慧恩一年前買了雛鳥「摳摳」回家飼養，當牠四、五個月大時，經常發現腳上夾鍊鬆脫，因怕牠走失，只好用掛鎖鎖住夾鍊加強控制，但是兩道鎖仍會無由地鬆開。
一開始以為壞掉，但換鎖還是一樣。因此林慧恩的先生在客廳加裝監視器試圖揭密，日前整理畫面時，赫然發現「摳摳」會開鎖。
「摳摳」先以鳥喙啄開夾鍊控制鈕，然後單腳站立，另一腳則以不同方向用掛鎖敲擊鳥架，每次約十分鐘，待牠認為時機差不多，就會用力蹬腳掙脫掛鎖。
林慧恩說，「摳摳」掙脫夾鍊的時間原本要一小時，現在只要十五分鐘，開鎖速度已經從數小時加快到半小時。
「摳摳」另項技能就是與人對話，牠看到林慧恩就喊「媽」，門鈴響起會說「你是誰，出去」，主人拿牠最愛吃的香蕉牠就說「要！」
林慧恩說，她並未特別教「摳摳」技能，只是把牠當作小孩子養，不時與牠對話，還放廣播讓牠聽，懷疑牠因此學到一些從未教過的詞彙，包括救護車鳴笛、煞車聲等，有時牠還會哼先生手機的音樂答鈴。
（自由時報記者洪臣宏）
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