Parrot has vets laughing uncontrollably with its constant cackle

Editor's note: This article was originally published on August 24, 2023. It has since been updated.

Animals have amazing skills that don't fail to amuse us. These skills can be baffling yet entertaining. If you skipped a comedy show and regret it, fear not, one parrot in town can make you laugh uncontrollably without charging a penny. Two employees at Petland Norwin in Norwin, Pennsylvania who take care of many animals simply wanted to do their job. The two couldn't stop laughing at the noises made by a parrot. Paco, the chatty bird, got them so worked up that they couldn't concentrate on their work. The parrot only came in for a wing and nail trim, but he had everyone in the office in stitches. The bird is off-screen in the @petlandnht footage, but his boisterous laughter had the human employees in stitches. 

One of the technicians was laughing so hard that she burst out laughing and teared up. Finally, the other technician shows Paco to the camera and asks Paco to cool it so they can finish working. The video was captioned, "Paco came in for a wing and nail trim today and had us crying from laughing!" and received almost 20 million views. The video was also posted on Reddit by u/mindyour and received more than nine thousand upvotes. Viewers on social media couldn't stop appreciating this entertaining green parrot. "It’s obvious that Paco is surrounded by a lot of laughter and affection in his home," commented @mackadoosmom. "It took me waaaay too long to realize it was the bird laughing," wrote @courtney. "It still amazes me how well they can mimic the sounds we make when we speak," said u/Hector_Savage_.

There are many video clips of Paco the parrot over the organization's social media implying just how much of an entertaining character he is. It is rare that Paco is speechless. In another video, Paco couldn't stop saying "This is Paco. I'm so bad" to the vet when asked if he was a good boy just before he went for a nail trim. Viewers describe him as "sassy" and "flirty." Paco is even known for his seductive "Hi!" which makes viewers go gaga over his voice. 

Parrots seem to be incredibly intelligent and love to talk. According to Smithsonian Magazine, new research suggests that virtual communication may improve the well-being of parrots. Video calls and messaging could allow parrots to communicate with birds that are geographically separated. Domesticated parrots who learned to engage in video chats with other parrots experienced a variety of positive outcomes, including the acquisition of new skills, according to a team of researchers from Northeastern University, the University of Glasgow, and MIT. The report was published in the Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in 2023. A pet owner was also quoted in the statement, describing how their parrot "came alive during the calls." The significant finding was that the birds engaged in the majority of calls for the maximum allowed time. The pet owners taught their birds to ring a bell and then touch an image of another pet parrot on a tablet screen to make a call during the first week of the study.

During this phase, the parrots made 212 video calls. During the second phase, the 15 parrots were free to make calls. They could also select the bird they wanted to call. The birds exchanged 147 video calls over the next two months. The researchers discovered that the parrots formed close bonds, which they measured by how often they wanted to call the same bird.