BIOACOUSTICS TYPES OF AVIAN VOCAL IMITATI ONS

The speech imitation activity (SIA) of talking birds was compared with their natural signalization and prototypic human speech by means of a specially developed device with KAPROS-01 Software. Twelve species of Psittaciformes and Passeriformes were studied. In the SIA of some spe cies, prototype-speech effects predominate (prototype-speech imitation ), while that of other species are mostly prototype species effects (p rototype-species imitation). Male voices are better imitated by large birds and female ones by small birds. The similarity of speech imitone s is observed in species that use the same type of imitation. When kep t in captivity, the talking species use natural-speech imitones with p riority and natural signalization less frequently.