Latin name: Melopsittacus undulatus

Brief introduction: Parrots are considered one of the most behaviorally advanced vertebrate groups. They have an advanced ability of vocal learning. Parrots can imitate human speech, synchronize their body movements to a rhythmic beat, and understand complex concepts of referential meaning to sounds. However, very little was known about the genetics of these traits. Now it is found that they have specialized gene regulation in their brains shared with human speech regions.

Related papers:
Zhang et al., Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights into Avian Genome Evolution and Adaptation. Science, (2014).
Jarvis et al., Whole Genome Analyses Resolve Early Branches in the Tree of Life of Modern Birds. Science, (2014).
Ganapathy et al., High-Coverage Sequencing and Annotated Assemblies of the Budgerigar Genome. GigaScience, (2014).