Zoo puts bird in solitary confinement after it abuses visitors
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A myna bird has been put in solitary confinement at a zoo in China for abusing visitors with bad language taught by tourists.
The bird, a common hill myna or Gracula religious, is a member of the starling family from hill regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is famous for its ability to imitate human speech and singing.
The Jiufeng Forest Zoo in Wuhan, Hubei Province's capital, introduced eight mynas from Vietnam in 2010. Four of them showed great ability for linguistics and so were put in the World of Birds exhibit to showcase their talent, according to the Indian Express.
They learned simple Chinese greetings, saying "hello" and "goodbye" to visitors. But, recently, zookeeper Li Yun heard one of the birds direct an expletive at a group of tourists.
He told Shanghai Daily that he had heard other tourists try to teach the myna bad language.
Mynas can also learn from each other, so this "angry bird" has been put in isolation, and is on training programme that includes playing tapes of polite words.
If the potty-mouthed bird says any rude words, it will not be given any food.
According to the Daily Telegraph, a sign has also been erected at the zoo, reading: "'Please do not use foul language to get a rise out of the Myna."
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