Einstein, the African Grey Parrot from Knoxville Zoo, Gave a TED Talk

Einstein, the African Grey Parrot from Knoxville Zoo, Gave a TED Talk

Parrots are known for having better cognitive and vocal abilities than most of other birds. Some of them even go as far as to develop their own vocabulary, like this African grey parrot.

The word birdbrained would perhaps require redefining if used in reference to this special parrot aptly-named Einstein. She loves to talk a lot and reply on cue. She also can imitate a wide range of sounds. Read on to know more about Einstein’s vocal adventures.


Einstein, the African grey parrot, is from Knoxville Zoo in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is a part of an outreach program to educate the visitors about the natural world. She was donated to the zoo in 1992.

Since she lives at the zoo, Einstein knows a lot of animal sounds and can make the sounds of chimpanzee, tiger, rooster, cat, dog, penguin, and pig on cue.


According to her trainer White, Einstein loves to mimic and babble. When she hears a sound she likes she starts repeating it over and over. The trainers use this to train her to make that sound on cue. She also learned to say “Yee-haw!” with Tennessee as the cue word. Many visitors who watch her speak are often astonished by her abilities and would say that the trainers are just ventriloquists.

Here is Einstein, giving her TED Talk with her trainer Stephanie White:


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