Linus went back to Omar’s today.
I’ve received an overseas assignment that will last several years and the quarantine procedures will be too much for him.
He will be greatly missed and I wish I could take him with me to the islands.
This will be the last post. Goodbye, everyone.
Dan
I finally got some video of him speaking, and demonstrating his new phrase, “go potty.”
You can also hear him saying, “Hey Linus” in my voice and a couple voices of my friends, as well as “Gimme a Kiss” and “Good Boy.”
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 made famous by the ground-breaking cognition and communication research conducted by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D., died at the age of 31 on September 6, 2007. Dr. Pepperberg’s pioneering research resulted in Alex learning 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. Her research with 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.
Over the course of 30 years of research, Dr. Pepperberg and Alex revolutionized the notions of how birds think and communicate. What Alex taught Dr. Pepperberg about cognition and communication has been applied to therapies to help children with learning disabilities. Alex’s learning process is based on the rival-model technique in which two humans demonstrate to the bird what is to be learned. Alex and Dr. Pepperberg have been affiliated with Purdue University, Northwestern University, the University of Arizona, the MIT Media Lab, the Radcliffe Institute, and most recently, Harvard University and Brandeis University.
Alex has been featured worldwide on numerous science programs including the BBC, NHK, Discovery and PBS. He is well known for his interactions with Alan Alda in an episode of Scientific American Frontiers on PBS and from an episode of the famed PBS Nature series called “Look Who’s Talking.” Reports on Alex’s accomplishments have appeared in the popular press and international news from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Science Times section of the New York Times featured Alex in a front-page story in 1999. That same year, Dr. Pepperberg published The Alex Studies, a comprehensive review of her decades of learning about learning from Alex. Many other television appearances and newspaper articles followed.
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.”
For press contacts:
The Alex Foundation and Dr. Pepperberg can be reached by e-mail at the alex@alexfoundation.org or by phone at 781-736-2195.
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.
Well Linus was doing really well for a while with his plucking… until he got himself caught up in a rope toy. I got home and found him tangled up pretty badly in the strands from the shredded rope and it was wound tightly around his neck. He’d plucked out almost all the feathers around his neck and chest trying to break free. I was able to cut him loose without further incident and he looks pretty bad but seems uninjured.
He has a new toy from a new friend of his and loves it. It’s supposed to help with his plucking. Thanks Jen!
Linus got a new tree this weekend. I took him in for grooming and decided to get him something so he could sit outside and enjoy the weather. Right now it’s sitting on an end table and he’s getting used to trying to balance himself. The wood is pretty slick so he had a hard time at first with it. His feathers are in better condition and he hasn’t been plucking much at all lately. He’s also stepping up his vocalizations and is saying “gimme a kiss (kiss noises).” Click the photo for larger version.
Well it’s time for an update.
The feather picking has subsided for the most part and his tail feathers are coming back in slowly. He almost looks normal, although still like he got in a bar fight. He’s liking the new apartment and I’ll probably be rearranging things substantially so I can get him closer to a window. I’m also going to work on building him an aviary in my miniscule back yard so he can enjoy the summer sun with me. The cam will be back online soon as well.
He’s learning some new noises, among them is the highly annoying sound of my pager when I leave the room, probably because he’s observed me running towards that sound on several occasions. He also plays “telephone” where he’ll ring, and then answer it, “Hello?” He then proceeds to chatter for a bit, says goodbye and “hangs up.” He’s also saying “Hi Linus” when someone is in the room and when he hears the carpet shampooer running he’ll make the same beep it does when it’s finished.
I’m pretty pleased with is vocabulary and will try to get some more recordings up as soon as I get the apartment back in order.
Much like the singing frog from that old Warner Brothers cartoon, Linus likes to make his vocalizations when it’s hard to get a good recording. Fortunately last night I was able to get some snippets of what he will sometimes spend hours doing while we’re watching TV at night.
Well the holidays are finally over so it’s time for an update.
Linus has been plucking for a while. I’ve taken him to the vet and he’s got a clean bill of health so I’m trying to figure out what the issue is. He gets plenty of sleep and light and his diet is fairly varied although if it were up to him he’d eat his curly noodles all day long. He loves the spiral pasta but only a certain kind. I couldn’t get him to eat the protein and vitamin enriched, probably because I wouldn’t touch it myself.
His speech is developing very quickly. In the last month or so he has been speaking gibberish, but he sounds like a human when he does it. He uses inflection, phrasing and it even sounds conversational at times. However he’s like a radio with bad reception. You can kind of hear “words” but it’s not very clear even though it sounds like a human being speaking. He’ll do it for hours at a time and usually when he’s alone although sometimes at night while we’re watching TV he’ll give us the parrot translation of what’s going on.
I’m being told that he may be smarter than the average Grey although I guess that’s an illusion that all parents have. I was under the impression that the speech wouldn’t be starting up for another year and wasn’t aware that there would be so much of it. I’ll be posting a recording of him as soon as I can get a good one.
It looks like Alex may have some competition.
Well after what seems like forever the LinusCam is back online with a refurbished camera from Panasonic.
You’ll probably notice that Linus looks a little rough. He’s been feather picking lately and I’ve been working with a local Vet on it but we’re still stumped as to the cause of it. Healthwise he checked out just fine so it’s probably psychological.
I’ve gotten him used to being on his back now. He freaked out a bit at first but he’s fine if he can keep a firm grip on my hand.
Well not much going on with Linus since the last update.
He seems to be mostly weaned and I have him eating food from Beak Appetit and he seems to like it. I’m also trying to figure out how to get him on a pelleted diet as well so I can be sure he’ll eat if I have to be gone for a couple days. As it stands now I have to make his food every morning since it’s moist and he likes it warm. I usually make a pound or so at a time and freeze it in little baggies.
I took some pictures of him after a bath the other day because he was looking especially pathetic:
I’ve also been feeding him chicken legs. He really likes them, more so than anything else actually. I know parrots aren’t normally carnivores but he really enjoys them and there’s not much left after he finishes one off:
OK, well as is normal with a child… he ignores the expensive toys and gravitates towards the least expensive items. Behold the parrot chewing on shiny colorful ad inserts from the LA Times.
He’s also learning whistles. He spent about 20 minutes with me tonight practicing his wolf whistle. He’d make one somewhat mangled and I’d make a perfect one back… then he’d try again. He’ll get it sooner or later.
Well it looks like the linuscam will be down for a while. It’s having issues with the chip that processes the video and Panasonic had me send it back to them for repairs. One of the viewers of his cam was kind enough to loan me a camera to use and I should have that online soon.
Lately his behavior has been a bit different. He’s not as much into physical contact as he was at first and is more into doing his own thing, except when he’s hungry. Maybe he’s just exploring his independence. He’s attacked Tricia a couple more times so I’m trying to get him socialized with her a lot more so he’s used to her being around and doesn’t get nervous or territorial. He’s gotten a bit stronger now after getting his wings clipped and is able to fly very short distances, which is good because just after his wings were clipped he’d fall like a rock when he tried to fly.
Ok, I said he likes the New Mexico pepper pods, that was an understatement.
He loves them. They’re like crack for him. I think I finally found a good treat food. This is a good thing since they’re about a dollar for a month’s supply at the local hispanic grocery store.
He also likes my salsa. He was gulping it down after I made some last night.
I’ve also got him flapping his wings on command now. I have to flap my arms and say, “flap” but he’ll do it with me.
I stopped by the mexican market today and got him a bag of New Mexico Chile pods. He loves ‘em.
I also finally got some video of him doing his little crazy dance around the cage. He does this once or twice a day and I’m a bit puzzled as to what he’s doing. He doesn’t seem angry because when I reached in he was friendly and cuddly.
Linus attacked Tricia’s hair again last night. For some reason he gets really aggressive towards her red hair. I don’t think he’s being territorial because he lets her hold him but the last couple times he’s been perched on the back of the sofa he’s attacked her hair. It wasn’t a friendly little gnawing, he had his wings out and beak open and acted really aggressive.
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