Alex the talking, thinking, logical parrot. Click here for an interview with Irene Pepperberg, Alex’s colleague.

First, here is an exerpt from the current press release from the Alex Foundation:

Alex the African Grey parrot and subject of landmark studies of bird intelligence dies at 31

WALTHAM, MA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2007)—Alex, the world renowned African Grey parrot, … died at the age of 31 on September 6, 2007. … [Alex learned] elements of English speech to identify 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities up to and including 6 and a zero-like concept. He used phrases such as “I want X” and “Wanna go Y”, where X and Y were appropriate object and location labels. He acquired concepts of categories, bigger and smaller, same-different, and absence. Alex combined his labels to identify, request, refuse, and categorize more than 100 different items demonstrating a level and scope of cognitive abilities never expected in an avian species. Pepperberg says that Alex showed the emotional equivalent of a 2 year-old child and intellectual equivalent of a 5 year-old. … Alex shattered the generally held notion that parrots are only capable of mindless vocal mimicry.

In 1973, Dr. Pepperberg was working on her doctoral thesis in theoretical chemistry at Harvard University when she watched Nova programs on signing chimps, dolphin communication and, most notably, on why birds sing. She realized that the fields of avian cognition and communication were not only of personal interest to her but relatively uncharted territory. When she finished her thesis, she left the field of chemistry to pursue a new direction—to explore the depths of the avian mind. She decided to conduct her research with an African Grey parrot. In order to assure she was working with a bird representative of its species, she asked the shop owner to randomly choose any African Grey from his collection. It was Alex. And so the 1-year old Alex, his name an acronym for the research project, Avian Learning EXperiment, became an integral part of Pepperberg’s life and the pioneering studies she was about to embark upon.

…

Alex was found to be in good health at his most recent annual physical about two weeks ago. According to the vet who conducted the necropsy, there was no obvious cause of death. Dr. Pepperberg will continue her innovative research program at Harvard and Brandeis University with Griffin and Arthur, two other young African Grey parrots who have been a part of the ongoing research program.

Alex has left a significant legacy—not only have he and Dr. Pepperberg and their landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology changed our views of the capabilities of avian minds, but they have forever changed our perception of the term “bird brains.”

Read the entire press release here.

But what about Alex’s brain?

Hoover the Talking Seal. Click here to listen to a recording.

Have you ever heard of “Hoover the Talking Seal”?

I’m serious. Hoover was a seal that lived at the New England Aquarium. He talked. He’d say things like “Hey, get outta here” with a thick Maine accent. He was from Maine. He lived much of the year in an outdoor pool that people wandering around the harbor front area of Boston would stroll past, and he’d tell them to “Get outta here” (in his Maine accent). He said other things too.

His speech may or may not have been “linguistic” but there was some evidence that he linked certain utterances to context appropriately. But even if he was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he talked. It would be like your dog talking. It would be like your dog, instead of barking at other dogs walking by the house, said “Hey, get outta here, hey you, get outta here.” If that happened it would freak you out.

The story with Hoover was best pieced together by Terrence Deacon, then of Harvard, now of Berkeley. Way back in 1971, Hoover was picked up, as a sick and dying pup, by Geore and Alice Swallo, in Harpswell Maine. George was a fisherman, a native Mainer, and drank a bit. Over the years, Hoover picked up some of the things that George would say a lot. One of those things was “Hey, get outta here” in a slightly less than sober, thick Maine accent. George was talking to Hoover when he said this, because Hoover had a tendency to dip into George’s supply of fish bait. It must have been annoying to have the seal talk back to him.

That would be a little like this: You have a dog, and your dog tends to take food off the kitchen counter, and when he does that you say “Hey, stop that, will ya?” And the dog turns to you and says “Hey, stop that, will ya?” That would be annoying.

Anyway, Terry Deacon heard one day of Hoover’s death. Terry was at that time doing brain research on humans and primates, etc., looking at the neurobiology of human speech. (Language too, but I’m talking here about the neural connectivity related to being able to utter words by manipulating the pharynx, larynx, tongue, mandible, lips, diaphragm, etc.) Naturally, Terry figured that getting a look at Hoover’s neural connections would be a very worthwhile venture, so he headed straight away for the aquarium to see what he could do.

But the body was already destroyed. There had been an autopsy, and it provided some information, but the kind of work Terry would have done … a micro-necropsy looking at individual neural tracts, etc. was no longer possible.

Now, we hear about Alex’s death, and we hear that their was an autopsy. Is anyone even thinking about looking at Alex’s neurobiology? Not so much for the speech part, because human speech is a run-of-the-mill ability of parrots. But the logic/language/intelligence parts. Yes, someone must be doing this. It will be very interesting to find out what is discovered!

For more information, see: GRRL Scientist