Are animals capable of dishonesty? My cat certainly feigns displays of affection for food and attention, which in a simple, instinctual way is a type of lie. This parrot, on the other hand, says things that he clearly doesn't mean but that have become parrot custom (I'm sure he makes the same excuse following Tourettes-like bursts of racial slurs in public). Animals are definitely capable of their own types of subterfuge (like camouflage and decoy) though these usually entail life-or-death matters of protecting oneself from predators or entrapping possible prey. Humans admittedly do the same thing in slightly more sophisticated ways, if we allow "predator" and "prey" to take on more general meanings.
Anyway, there's no excuse for a supersentient parrot not understanding that "Polly wanna cracker" totally bloody means you want a frickin' cracker.
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