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Tue, Oct 20

Repeat after me, pretty bird

An international team of researchers mapping the genomes of birds has discovered a structure in the brains of parrots that likely explains their ability to mimic human speech.

The structure identified by the Duke University-led research team may eventually provide insight into human speech disorders, said Mukta Chakraborty, a post-doctoral researcher in neurobiology at Duke.

“We always wondered why parrots are able to imitate human speech,” Chakraborty said. “Now, we have found something that hasn’t been discovered over the last three decades of study. Everyone is very excited about it; it has created quite a ruffle.”

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