Research African Grey Parrot Alex passes away! :-(

**AJE** · 09-12-2007, 07:49 AM

Bird Brain Alex the Parrot Dies
Tuesday, 11 Sep 2007

Alex, a parrot who could count to six, identify colors and even express frustration with repetitive scientific trials, has died after 30 years of helping researchers better understand the avian brain.
.............(more at link below)........
Pepperberg said the last time she saw Alex was Thursday. They went through their goodnight routine, in which she told him it was time to go in the cage and said: "You be good, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Alex responded, "You'll be in tomorrow."

Gifted research parrot Alex found dead - Science - MSNBC.com

:cry: I guess bird brain is an understatement! I'm sure another Alex will take over where this wonderful companion left off.

**AJE** · 09-12-2007, 07:53 AM

Alex is no ordinary bird brain

Meet Alex!

Quote:

Alex has made it as far as a parrot can go in academia by proving himself to be exceptionally smart, or at least better educated than just about any bird on the planet. Irene Pepperberg, an adjunct professor of psychology at Brandeis, has been training Alex for 27 years, using a unique method she calls the model/rival technique. Alex watches interactions between his trainer and another parrot or a human being, learns to answer questions correctly, and competes to show he knows the right answer - it's something like being a contestant on a parrot version of Jeopardy! The technique works, dazzlingly. In the 1980s, Alex made headlines for being able to identify objects by shape, name, and color with an 80 percent or better accuracy rate.

Since then, Pepperberg has taught Alex the rudiments of spelling, addition, and subtraction. She will publish a paper this year in which she argues that Alex can understand a simple form of the concept of zero. Because of his sophisticated ability to communicate, Alex gives us a new window into the mind of a bird.

Kelly68 · 09-15-2007, 10:54 PM

Not too many people know (or should I say knew) who Alex was. I have watched episode's on TV and online about the amazing stuff he could do. I used to have an African Grey named Andre too and they are very smart creatures. When I saw that Alex died, I immediately had to call my sister. Most depressing thing is not knowing really why he died.

CarolsCritterCare · 09-16-2007, 01:44 PM

I was real sad to see that article in the JS paper.

Still dont know what was the cause of death

I have 2 african greys myself. They are awesome birds!

Carol

Kelly68 · 09-16-2007, 02:09 PM

Yes, they are awesome birds. I used to be part of the PETsMART team and all the big birds came in needing to be handfed. So I became Avian Certified and hand fed all the birds. The Timneh African Grey that came in there came very bonded to me that he woudn't even want to be social to any other prospective buyer. So I wound up buying him and he really loved me and vise versa. "Andre" became the center of attention fast and when he was naughty I would say Andre, be a good boy. Boy did he pick that up in a hurry. When we was being naughty he would correct himself by saying "Andre, be a good boy". So smart. I had a lot of health issues and couldn't take care of him like he needed to be so he went to a home of another big bird lover and still there to this day.

**keith** · 09-16-2007, 03:02 PM

I hear the researcher on Wisconsin Public Radio the other day.

The bird was counting once, and was getting the numbers wrong...then the researcher realized (and statistically confirmed) that instead of saying "two" when it saw two objects, the bird was counting by twos, adding the new to the previous total.

Amazing.

Regards,
Keith

Kelly68 · 09-16-2007, 03:17 PM

I think the research that Alex did was absolutely amazing. People don't give them credit for what they are capable of doing.

CarolsCritterCare · 09-16-2007, 07:23 PM

I have to be real careful what I say around my birds.......and what my guest say as well.

Just today my birds were teasing the dogs. They said "Who wants to go for a walk?"

The dogs went crazy...........they all wanted to go for a walk!!

**AJE** · 09-18-2007, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolsCritterCare

I have to be real careful what I say around my birds.......and what my guest say as well.

Just today my birds were teasing the dogs. They said "Who wants to go for a walk?"

The dogs went crazy...........they all wanted to go for a walk!!

Cute very cute!

MichelleC · 09-18-2007, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolsCritterCare

I have to be real careful what I say around my birds.......and what my guest say as well.

LOL! Sounds like having a toddler. You never realize how much you use certain expressions until you hear your toddler using them.

Sad about Alex.

I didn't know much about him, but I had heard of him.

Michelle

AlumniClub · 09-18-2007, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolsCritterCare

I have to be real careful what I say around my birds.......and what my guest say as well.

Just today my birds were teasing the dogs. They said "Who wants to go for a walk?"

The dogs went crazy...........they all wanted to go for a walk!!

That is hilarious!
I have thought about birds in my house, but then I shy away from it. The cats are still relatively young (1 year old in Aug) and climbers. I am afraid the birds will have unwanted guests in/on their cage.

Miss Lolly used to help clean the rat cage....she did no harm to the rat, just thought he needed a friend so jumped in the cage.

Links-

Kelly68 · 09-18-2007, 10:05 AM

Birds are such smart creatures. I had a cockatiel named Baby. He got his name becaue the first thing he learned to say was "Hey, Baby". Coolest bird ever. At the time I only had one cat and the bird loved the cat. Surprisingly the cat didn't mind the bird either. But Baby would be on the floor walking around and spot the cat (Garfield). He then would proceed to chase Garfield around saying "Hey baby" "How bout a kiss" then give kissing noises. That is where Garfield drew the line...no kissing birds. Poor baby would be devastated cause all he wanted was to give Garfield a little lovin. They both died since then. Baby got really sick, laying on the bottom of his cage (of course, happened to be a weekend) but paid the vet bill to get him in. Just to be told that he is old and won't make it. But I was determined every hour to give him sugar water to boost his metabolism then lay him back in his cage. I did this the whole night thinking I woudn't have him the next morning. I slept on the floor with the cage by my side. Only to be woken up to him sitting on his perch saying Good Morning, now bout a kiss. My cat (who had to be put to sleep of the age of 21) was my best friend. He was suffering and blind due to age. That was the hardes thing I ever went through. I held him in my arms knowing I was doing the right thing, but when they started to inject the medicine in him, I swore he regained his eyesight, looked right at me and in own way asking me why I was doing that to him. I bawled for days and days. I decided to bring him back home with me and we made a little grave for him and later added Baby seeing they were the best of buds. Here is a picture of the memorial gravesite we built:

AlumniClub · 09-18-2007, 10:49 AM

Maybe Garfield was looking at you and saying sorry to have to do this to you. I don't mean to make you sad. They have such good perception on moods.

My dog would always know when I was ill and would sit closer to me, I think trying to make me feel better.

I lost Rascal, just last Feb. He was slowing up in his old age...but I didn't think too much of it. He suffered from pancreatitis so had been to the vet relatively recently.

One Friday, one of the kittens was acting listless. I found someone had an accident on the floor, I immediately thought it was her. Never thought it was the dog. I took the cat in to the vet. When I got home one of my boys heard that I had just gotten back from the vet, and asked if I had taken Rascal. I said no I didn't know he was ill. He seemed slow...but was a trooper so hard to tell if something was bothering him.

The next morning I took him outside and realized quickly the accident was his. I immediately called the vet and was able to take him in. They took xrays and found he was filled with cancer. The vet then tried to give me the quality of life speech. I cut her off and asked her if I could take him home for the kids to say goodbye. She agreed.

Well he made it the car ride home. I carried him in the house and set him by my daughter and shared the news. I walked away to get him a dish of water so he wouldn't have to walk so far and I realized by the look in his face he didn't have long.

He died in my arms within an hour or so. His last look was I love you. Don't be sad.
I cried for days too. I had him cremated and somedays talk to his urn as if it is him.(okay call me crazy) Sometimes I even tel the cats to leave Rascal alone and don't knock him off the shelf.

Kelly68 · 09-18-2007, 11:07 AM

I got tears in my eyes reading that. Thanks for sharing! I talk to all my pets, even my fish. As if they understand. My kids call me crazy.

**AJE** · 09-24-2007, 07:41 AM

Video Clip of Alex

Video: Alex, "Genius" Talking Parrot, Dies at 31

Kelly68 · 09-24-2007, 09:56 PM

Alex was so smart. I would hate to be anyone who had close contact with him. That had to be so devastating. Especially not knowing why he died at such a young age (for a parrot that is).

CarolsCritterCare · 09-26-2007, 07:39 AM

If you choose to help support this research, please consider making a donation in Alex's memory to The Alex Foundation, c/o Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Department of Psychology/MS-062, 415 South Street, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454.