He knew his colours and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of oneliners he established himself in television shows, scientific reports and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.
But last week Alex, an African grey parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of his life. The parrot was 31.
Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language facility was, in some ways, more surprising than the feats of primates that have been taught American Sign Language, like Koko the gorilla, trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org in Woodside, Calif., or Washoe the chimpanzee, studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1977, when Dr Pepperberg, then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard, bought Alex from a pet store, scientists had little expectation that any bird could learn to communicate with humans, as opposed to just mimicking words and sounds. Research in other birds had been not promising.
But by using novel methods of teaching, Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn scores of words,
which he could put into categories, and to count small numbers of items, as well as recognize colours and shapes. “The work revolutionised the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College.”
Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against characterizing Alex’s abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in basic expressions — but he did not show the sort of logic and ability to generalise that children acquire at an early age, they said.
Dr Pepperberg used an innovative approach to teach Alex. African greys are social birds, and quickly pick up some group dynamics. In experiments, Pepperberg would employ one trainer to, in effect, compete with Alex for a small reward, like a grape. Alex learned to ask for the grape by observing what the trainer was doing to get it; the researchers then worked with the bird to help shape the pronunciation of the words.
Alex showed surprising facility. For example, when shown a blue paper triangle, he could tell what colour the paper was, what shape it was, and — after touching it — what it was made of. He demonstrated his skills on TV, including programmes on PBS and BBC. He shared scenes with actor Alan Alda on the series “Look Who’s Talking.” NYT NEWS SERVICE
A psychologist taught this parrot to learn scores of words (which he could put into categories), count and recognise colours and shapes
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