Extraordinary Talking African Grey Parrot Apollo Breaks Guinness World Record

Viral TikTok sensation Apollo has proved he’s not a bird brain by breaking the world record of the most items identified by a parrot in 3 minutes. The 4-year-old African grey parrot broke the Guinness World Record after successfully identifying 12 items on December 18, 2023.

Based in Florida, USA, Apollo belongs to Dalton and Victoria Mason, who are both content creators. Apollo’s TikTok profile boasts 2.8 million followers and many of his videos rack up millions of views. Similarly, his YouTube account has over 1.3 million subscribers.

Breaking the record included naming things such as “bug”, “book”, and “sock” – but his owners believe he could be capable of more. “There’s no knowing what Apollo will learn, or what records he could break next,” the couple told Guinness World Records .

Apollo first came to live with them in 2020 after they found him in a pet shop. He also shares the house with two white-bellied caiques named Soleil and Ophelia, who also sometimes feature in the videos.

Since his arrival, the couple have been training him with Dr Irene Pepperberg's methods and his favorite reward: pistachios. Dr Pepperberg is famous among animal behaviorists for her work with a grey parrot called Alex.

Alex was extraordinarily intelligent and among his many accomplishments could count to six, and knew words for all kinds of objects and colors. He was trained in the model/rival method that Apollo’s owners also used to teach him. This involves being taught by one person, with another learning alongside him and modeling the correct responses. However, there is no strict routine to his learning and Apollo is free to pick his own subjects.

“We teach him as much as we can naturally in day-to-day life and focus on the things Apollo wants to focus on. We believe he will learn things faster that way,” they explain.

Most of all, Victoria and Dalton want to spread awareness about the “natural intelligence found in animals”. Despite one dog recently setting a house on fire by chewing on a power bank, baboons , giraffes , and fish have all been found to possess levels of intelligence previously thought only to belong to humans.