New York Times, September 10, 2007
Alex, a Parrot Who Had a Way With Words, Dies By BENEDICT CAREY
He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and
with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in TV shows, scientific
reports, and news articles as perhaps the worlds 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 its
life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot
was 31.
Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the
ability to learn human language. Alexs 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.
When, in 1977, 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. Most of the research had been
done in pigeons, and was not promising.
But by using novel methods of teaching, Dr. Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn
about 150 words, which he could put into categories, and to count small
numbers, as well as colors and shapes. The work revolutionized the way we
think of bird brains, said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who
works with dolphins and elephants. That used to be a pejorative, but now we
look at those brains at least Alexs with some awe.
Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against
characterizing Alexs abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in
basic expressions but it did not show the sort of logic and ability to
generalize that children acquire at an early age, they said. Theres no
evidence of recursive logic, and without that you cant work with digital
numbers or more complex human grammar, said David Premack, a professor
emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Pepperberg used an innovative approach to teach Alex. African Greys are
social birds, and pick up some group dynamics very quickly. In experiments, Dr.
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 an experimenter what color the paper was, what shape it
was, and after touching it what it was made of. He demonstrated off some of
his skills on nature shows, including programs on the BBC and PBS. He famously
shared scenes with the actor Alan Alda on the PBS series, Look Whos Talking.
Like parrots can, he also picked up one-liners from hanging around the lab,
like calm down, and good morning. He could express frustration, or apparent
boredom, and his cognitive and language skills appeared to be about as
competent as those in trained primates. His accomplishments have also inspired
further work with African Grey parrots; two others, named Griffin and Arthur,
are a part of Dr. Pepperbergs continuing research program.
Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound
words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night
last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: You be good,
see you tomorrow. I love you.
He was found dead in his cage the next morning, and was determined to have
died late Thursday night.
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