the question is: can the birds be racist? at least, it looks like they are but, in fact, they are more scared of the skin colors of humans they are NOT exposed to rather than cognitively racist.
my nephew is gonna become a Vet and he is working as an intern at a Metro Toronto Zoo for his summer vacation. his job is to train birds for the show. he told me today that some of the birds are scared of black N brown people…during the show, these birds will not approach a colored person to fetch a dollar bill from him/her. also, when colored people try to pet those birds after the show, they will tend to bite.
the fact is that they are scared of unfamiliar colored people…so, next time, if your child is NOT picked by the show host as a volunteer, there could be a reason!
Very interesting.
Could you check with your nephew about the origin of the birds that are afraid of colored people. Are they African or Brazilian birds or species that are from, let’s say China or Europe?
he says any bird, mostly smaller birds, don’t like the skin color of people they haven’t been exposed to. he is dealing with birds hand raised by white trainers in the zoo from day 1. these birds are brought in when they are only a few days old or hatched on site.
there is a macaw from South America and he is afraid of only brown people…he doesn’t go to any brown person…my nephew has been entrusted with training this macaw…he is almost ready to be brought on to the show…he has bitten my nephew at least 25 times…a couple of times hard enuf to require a couple of stitches.
We haven’t even spared the birds our prejudice/discrimination. We favor the doves and swans and peacocks over the crows and buzzards. We use words like kaala kawa…and go as far as associating them with negative omens. So, who cares if the birds are racist?
