Pet parrot mimics owner, orders gift boxes worth $13.50 online!

Image courtesy: Corienne Pretorius/Instagram

New Delhi: Parrots are known for their intelligence and their incredible ability to talk and mimic humans, which only makes them more interesting and they make really good pets.

A parrot belonging to Corienne Pretorius, a resident of southeast London, proved that he could not only mimick his owner's voice but could also do a lot more with the ability.

Buddy the parrot reportedly placed an online shopping order worth $13.50 by mimicking its owner on a voice-controlled smart speaker, as per a British newspaper.

According to The Sun, Buddy placed an order of a set of gift boxes via Amazon's Alexa voice-controlled system.

The mystery order triggered an inquest in Pretorius's house, but after ruling out her husband and son, she figured out Buddy was to blame after hearing him interact with the speaker.

"I couldn't believe it when I realised that Buddy had made an Amazon order," the South African said.

Users can shout commands to the Amazon Echo speaker to access a host of services. It responds to the name 'Alexa'.

Footage on the Sun's website shows the parrot squawking "Alexa!" and the device next to his cage lighting up blue, indicating that it is listening for commands.

"Buddy said 'Alexa' and some gibberish, and the machine replied, 'What is it you want to order?" Pretorius said.

She thought nothing more of it until she got a notification that an order had been placed for some golden gift boxes.

"I laughed out loud because I knew then that it was Buddy."

Amazon said customers were asked to confirm a purchase by saying "yes", and the settings can be adjusted to turn off voice purchasing.

"Buddy is hilarious. We have a cat and he mimics that, too. He is such an attention-seeker. He also swears in Afrikaans. When we go to bed, he says, 'goodnight'," his owner said.

Check out her Instagram posts describing her 'parrot problems'!

My Parrot made the newspaper! #thesun added an article this morning about how Buddy ordered via #alexa Anyone want to add gold #decorative boxes to their next #bespokecake order? #ultimatecakeart

A post shared by Corienne Pretorius (@ultimatecakeart) on Sep 19, 2017 at 11:15pm PDT

Shucks!!! Parrot problem!!! My African Grey just ordered something online. Returning home I could hear Buddy talking... Buddy: "Alexa" Buddy: "gibberish gibberish gibberish " (couldn't quite hear what he was saying) Alexa: "Sorry I didn't get that" Buddy: "Alexa" Buddy: "gibberish bla bla bla" Alexa: "What is it you want to order?" Buddy: "some more gibberish..." On hour later while working on the mac, a notification came up - your Amazon order has been placed! WHAT!!! #amazon #alexa #ultimatecakeart #amazonprime

A post shared by Corienne Pretorius (@ultimatecakeart) on Sep 17, 2017 at 7:20am PDT

(With AFP inputs)