Alex (1976 – September 6, 2007) had a vocabulary of over 100 words, but was exceptional in that he appeared to have understanding of what he said. For example, when Alex was shown an object and was asked about its shape, color, or material, he could label it correctly. He could understand that a key was a key no matter what its size or color, and could figure out how the key was different from others. One day, he asked what color he was, and learned “grey” after being told the answer six times. This made him the first non-human animal to have ever asked an existential question. [x]
Alex’s last words were also “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.” [x]
These were the same words that Alex would say every day when his owner left the lab.
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“You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”
a parrot actually said these words, and meant it, before he died.
I’m getting choked up
Alex the parrot is actually one of my favorite animal intelligence stories/examples. What a smart birb.
Why am I emotional right now?
I had thw pleasure of presenting her findings in my Evolutionary psych class this semester and Alex was a very smart birb. Some more fun facts! He had object permanence and could count up to 7. He understood concepts of bigger and smaller, and he could use the word no properly!!! And he’d also get an attitude if he didn’t get what he wanted and hed keep interrupting the task that he was meant to be working on at that moment to ask for something else or to go to a different location in the room!!!! He was a Sassy Burb
Alex would also interrupt other African greys they were trying to teach words to with the correct answer, so he would get the reward instead. I remember reading about him correcting the other birds’ pronunciation on ‘v’ sounds, as that’s a hard one for birds to make. Usually when they were trying to pronounce the number seven. He’d say the word as it should sound and then say something like “say it correctly”.
This bird also invented his own words for things. He did not know what an apple was, but he was familiar with cherries and bananas. So what did he decide an apple was? A banerry. Because it was red like a cherry but light on the inside like a banana or something. And he was so set in his ways that he was correct in saying it was a banerry and not an apple, that he would try to teach his human companions how to say it. In the same slow pronunciation that they would do at him when teaching him new words.
all African greys have the capacity to be this smart and it makes me so sad that so many wind up in rescues or are cared for poorly in their homes
