National Animal Welfare Trust
Rocco the African grey parrot isn't the usual sort of G-rated animal rescue story.
The stray bird came into the care of the National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) charity in the UK in late 2017 and soon showed off his love of swear words. Rocco has since developed a charming new habit: talking to an Amazon Alexa Echo assistant.
NAWT says Rocco caused "a few issues initially in the office, by swearing regularly and throwing his water bowl around." Staff member Marion Wischnewski adopted the cute troublemaker anyway. NAWT reported on Friday that Rocco has "fallen in love" with Wischnewski's Alexa device.
Wischnewski told The Sun she has to check her Amazon shopping list and cancel items the bird has ordered. NAWT says he's attempted to shop for treats, including strawberries, watermelon, raisins and ice cream.
Despite his dirty vocabulary and passion for Amazon shopping, Wischnewsi says, "He loves to dance and has the sweetest personality." She sometimes comes home to him playing romantic music through the Echo.
African grey parrots are known for their intelligence and ability to reason like a 3-year-old human. One particularly famous parrot named Alex demonstrated remarkable math and language skills, so it's not too surprising Rocco could figure out how to get along with Alexa.
cnet
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