Alex, The Brainy Parrot Who Knows About Zero

Roland Piquepaille writes "Alex is a 28-year-old grey parrot who lives in a lab at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and can count, identify objects, shapes, colors and materials. And now, Alex has grasped the concept of zero, according to World Science. In fact, Alex can describe the absence of a numerical quantity on a tray containing colored cubes. When a color is missing, Alex consistently identified this 'zero quantity' by saying the label 'none.' You might think that this is just a parrot trick, but this research about 'bird intelligence' might also help autistic and other learning-disabled children 'who have trouble learning language and counting skills.' This overview contains other details, references and a picture of Alex counting his colored cubes."

Comments

zero

[DerKwisatzHaderach]

zeroth post!

Re:zero

[Compholio]

zeroth post!

So does that mean the parrot has you beat since he understands the concept of zero and you don't? ;)

That's not new...

[tbuckner]

What about that raven which understood the concept of 'nevermore'?

Re:Hubris

[iamzack]

I hope you're not a member of PETA, unless it's the People for Eating Tastey Animals variety.

Brainy Holand Piquepaille grasps concept of $0

[koreaman]

Scientists have reported today that Holand Piquepaille, perennial Slashdot whore and troll, has finally grasped the concept of $0.

"It's amazing", reported one scientist. "Although usually it takes human-level intelligence to grasp the concept of submitting news articles without any chance for a monetary return, we were able to teach the concept to Holand Piquepaille."

Unfortunately, the results are not yet conclusive, and it remains to be seen whether or not Holand Piquepaille will return all the money he duped out of people for looking at primidi.com. Scientists are hopeful, but note, "This is the first time that this concept has ever been documented in this particular species of whore, so we still need lots more evidence for the data to be conclusive."

Another researcher pointed out: "Holand has demonstrated the concept of $0, but we're not sure if he's grasped what he wanted him to, or if he's just hit on related themes like 'The amount of value my posts add to Slashdot'."

Scientists hope that further research will prove that Holand is destined to lead a life of future altruism. Keep your hopes up!

Re:Polly...

[TRS80NT]

Oh, I get it. polly-nomials!

Re:Very Intelligent

[WAG24601G]

My relatives have a african grey parrot and they are in fact really smart. They even seem to answer your questions (and complete sentences or phrases). Only thing is that they bite real hard so you might want to keep a distance while talking/playing with them.

I generally avoid relatives who bite while talking/playing. But, um, congratulations on their discovery of grammar!

Re:Hubris... Yes...

[HybridST]

"And I for one welcome our new feline masters...

You missspelled 'avian'."

You misspelled "misspelled"...

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