Slashdot Mirror
Alex the African Grey Parrot Dies
grrlscientist writes "Yesterday, I received the devastating news that Alex the African Grey parrot, who was both a study subject and colleague to Irene Pepperberg, died unexpectedly at 31 years of age. 'Even though Alex was a research animal, he was much more than that. This species of parrot generally lives to be 50-60 years old, so Alex was only middle-aged when he died. According to some reports I have read, it is possible that Alex might have succumbed to Aspergillosis, a fungal infection of the lungs that he has battled in the past. However, the cause of death will not be known until after a necropsy has been completed... Alex's veterinarian is returning from vacation to personally conduct this necrospy.'"
Anyone who makes a comment about pining for the fjords gets a slap.
Ok... *still trying to figure out how this is newsworthy* I know, I know.. I'm new here...
Wonder if anyone has checked for a nail?
He was just middle aged, I smell something wrong here. I suggest a full investigation into the causes of his untimely demise... Slow news day, huh?
in other news, 300 Chinese people died from a coal mine explosion.
Blame Canada!
And have they tried putting 50,000 volts through it?
I wonder if anyone has tried to sell him to a blind kid...
je suis parce que j'aime
That sums up the article for ya, right there. Famous bird, written up in New York Times. A tragedy, dead. Give me some money...
This is my sig.
Will someone tell me what kdawson is smoking? Why do I find myself looking at that name every time I see an article that has no business on Slashdot?
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
...has gone to the birds.
"This is America... where the will of the few outweigh the outrage of the many..." - Unknown
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
Owner: We're closin' for lunch.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.
Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
Mr. Praline: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!
Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you
show...
(owner hits the cage)
Owner: There, he moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything...
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
Thanks! I'll be here all week!
'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
[This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
I don't know, the Chinese government says they're sleeping.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Animal control officials are shadowing Fido, rumoured to be in a White Ford Bronco driving down I-95. Fido, the famous physics dog, is said to be a suspect in the surprising parrot case. Yesterday, a necropsy revealed teethmarks in the flank of Alex, the dancing parrot who is said to have helped invent the personal computer.
A trainer for Fido was heard to say, via cell phone, "if the tooth don't fit, you must acquit!"
This is my sig.
This story is clearly from the "he's resting" or "beautiful plumage" dept.
kdawson please check in your geek card at the door on the way out!
albeit probably unintentionally: As you know, I have spent my life researching, breeding and living with birds,
This coming from someone who calls themselves grrrlscientist. You could probably make some videos to pay for your research.....
Monstar L
I met him once. He really was a remarkable bird and could use language for communication, not just mimicry. He would answer all sorts of question about objects that you showed him. Some errors, of course, but correct responses way above chance. Together with all the reports over the last few years about tool-making and using in crows, it makes you have a lot more respect for birds. Makes me think of watching crows play and tumble on a strong, turbulent wind or pelican "surf" the air just in front of a nice clean wave. Awesome.
Although this animal could do some fairly impressive things, I often felt she (Dr. Pepperberg) and her colleagues made too much of it. The constellation of things referred to by English speakers as "Language" is far too broad to be especially meaningful when applied to the behavior of a parrot. The behaviors of "speaking" and "listening" are better described as falling along a continuum as opposed to a skill that one either has or not.
And this is fairly important news because, from what I understand, most Alex's success has not been replicated with other birds. Hopefully this will prompt her and/or others to better describe the conditions under which animals (and humans) come to do things we refer to as language as opposed to simply cataloging differences between species which are all too easy to find.
Dead Parrot Sketch
The cast:
MR. PRALINE
John Cleese
SHOP OWNER
Michael Palin
The sketch:
A customer enters a pet shop.
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
Owner: We're closin' for lunch.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.
Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
Mr. Praline: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!
Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you
show...
(owner hits the cage)
Owner: There, he moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything...
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour
ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.
Mr. Praline: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?
Owner: The Norwegian Blue prefers keepin' on it's b
nt
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2H6DSoqZz_s
Q: How does a Unix guru have sex? A: unzip;strip;touch;finger;mount;fsck;more;yes;umount;sleep
Luckily for me, Alex died young - I don't know if I could have held out for another 19-29 years...
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
this parrot was smarter and more intelligent than a certain percentage of /.ers. this is that kind of news.
no really, he was really, really overly smart. major geek stuff.
Read radical news here
Me an Me shipmates extend to ye oer sympathies. Tis tuf to looz a parrot, I wuldnt be da same witout mine. Arrrrrggghhhh.
May he rest in Davy Jones Locker in peace. Arrrgghhhh!!!!!
load "$",8,1
He is just pining for the fjords... I cant believe I nobody said it already!!! C'mon wath is happening with Slashdot!
Three, two, one.....
Bert
He was delicious!
I met Alex four years ago at Brandeis. He tried to mate with my arm... :(
The death of Alex the African Grey Parrot hit me harder than when Data died in the last Star Trek movie. This is truely a horrible day for Bird lovers everywhere. I guess I'll just go buy myself a gerbal to help fill the void. These are not smiles times.
WWPD - What Would Picard Do?
LOL Bitches.
A Parrot is a bird, a Penguin is a bird, the mascot of Linux is Tux the Penguin. See? Totally relevant.
after reading the news that the Mac community prevented the coup, and now you are bringing me down with a news that whatever parrot died. reading the slashdot is becoming a roller-coaster ride.
My local pet store has a parrot that was born in 1914. He seems healthy and spry (and he bites).
obHomer: Mmmmmm.... peppered bird...
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
in Perl's coffin :*(
at least it was a natural death (no python involved).
If that doesn't make his death "News for Nerds", then I don't know what does.
Initially I read Nerds as Birds... which would make for an interesting headline:
News for Birds, stuff with crackers
If it were a robotic parrot, maybe people would care more. Unfortunately, most people on here only acknowledge the "Computer Nerd" variety of nerdome, overlooking veterinary, medical, science, and many other forms of nerddome.
I must admit, at first I was wondering why an article about a parrot was on the front-page of slashdot. I'm a regular, but apparently I haven't caught Alex on the news on slashdot before. However, the article was enough to pique my interest and look up a bit more of Alex... although I do have a personal interest in African Grey's (always wanted one as a pet, but they're a lot of money, and require more attention than I could give right now). They're supposed to be incredibly intelligent birds, with live spans that often mean that need to be included in the owner's will (because they've been known to outlive humans).
I do wonder that, if Alex had been a famous Chimpanzee or primate, then perhaps more people would find interest in this article. Just because he's a bird and not a mammal such as a monkey or dolphin, doesn't mean that his intelligence isn't noteworthy or perhaps of scientific value. Heck, if you pay close attention to even some more common birds such as crows (or better, ravens) you'll find that they show rather keen level of intelligence and shrewdness. This is generally centered around getting food, but just because their needs/desires are much simpler than ours doesn't mean that their intellect is.
Noam Chomsky criticised the parrot's ability to speak saying it was just operant conditioning, but I'd say that's about as much as most slashbots have.
I can see it now: "In Soviet Russa... In Soviet Russia *SQUAWK* I FOR ONE WELCOME *SQUAWK*"
Isn't Apergillis how the folks in the movie Primer discovered what their device did?
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
I have a Meyers Parrot named Brady (picture: http://flickr.com/photos/mark_watson/392128570/) who is about 6 years old. When Brady was a baby, I used to show him videos on my computer, not of Alex, but of the Parrot at MIT who used a symbolic language. Brady was fairly much fascinated by the videos, and I showed them to him many times.
:-)
Although parrots have small neocortexes, they are clever little creatures. Brady has good analytic (puzzle solving) abilities, but his long term memory seems to be limited to things that he has been exposed to many times - this is just my own opinion, not backed up by any scientific research.
I work at home and can frequently give our parrot attention during the day - please don't even consider getting a parrot unless either your family can give it frequent attention and play time every day, or get a mated pair that can keep each other company. We find that we can't really leave rady in a room by himself, so we move him to where ever we are in the house, or better yet, just let him run/fly around (also known as running amuck
A problem with parrots is that they do bite - I get a good bite every month or two, but I try to not let it hurt my feelings. I could probably avoid most bites by not handling Brady when I know that he is pissed off, but why bother.
I ate what? Well, how would I know it was a talking parrot?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Check out Frostee who can dance to Creedance Clearwater song. Now, that's neat to see him go down and boogey. :D
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This story is for the birds.
Hey, someone had to say it.
It's not like the histories of artificial intelligence and cognitive science as fields of study are inextricably linked. We haven't been going back and forth between models of thinking based on computer programming and models based on human or animal behavior, building from one to the other, for over fifty years now. If it's not about particle physics, space travel, or the new iPod, a true nerd would know nothing about it.
No, Alex the parrot and Irene Pepperberg have NO PLACE on a nerdly site like slashdot.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I still remember the bit on 3-2-1 Contact where they featured Alex.
The coolest bit was that he invented a word for an apple (banerry)
based on its similarities in color and taste to fruits he knew.
Were that I say, pancakes?
My African Grey recently died too at an early age, 15, she was an amazing intelligent bird. We had a necropsy done and it turned out to be a heart attack / hear disease. Big bummer, I really dug Alex, very extraordinary bird.
...he's pining for the fjords!
I got the news from another member of my bird club who knew that Dr. Irene Pepperberg did a demonstration with myself and my Grey for our club a few years ago.
Irene's research was instrumental in helping understand the cognitive ability of animals (ironicly, her research started out as trying to help brain damaged humans rebuild cognitive ability through Model/Rival training).
Irene has a big heart and I know she must be crushed from this loss.
If you want to support her research with her 3 other birds (lab space and research assistants aren't free), please donate a check made payable to:
The Alex Foundation MS/062
Department of Psychology
Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454
Attn: Alex Memorial
The Alex Foundation is a 503c not-for-profit organization.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
Did they even selectively breed him with other parrots?
OK-
So it's a dead parrot.
But does Mr.Wensleydale still have no cheese?
.
- aqk
F U
No no, e's not dead, uh,...he's resting. Look there, he moved!
Do not anger the Karma Whores, for they don't bathe often, and might decide to come visit you in person. -Ryan Amos
Consciousness is a myth. Trust me.
Q. What's this ? "Pieces of Seven! Pieces of Seven!"
A. A parity error.
These creatures were meant to fly free in their native rain forests, not to languish in cages, regardless of your anthropomorphizing. I've been working in East Africa for the past several years and have seen first hand the results of the horrible practices of raiding the last few intact habitats for the pet trade. Everything is for sale, from exotic fresh water fish, to birds, rare butterflies, pretty much anything and everything. This trade contributes and hastens the destruction of these habitats forever.
In Kenya I used to marvel at the diversity of exotic birds that congregated in my garden, from the majestic eagles and kites, to the brightly coloured sunbirds, the odd Ibis or Kingfisher.
Then I had an idiot neighbor that had some kind of parrot locked up in a cage that would squauk all day, poor bastard. Parrots in Kenya are becoming rarer and rarer...all because some people on the other side of the world think its cool to "own" one.
"Alex's veterinarian is returning from vacation to personally conduct this necrospy."
Obviously, a dead spy is necrospy.
did he drop any epic loot?
I got the opportunity to hold and play with this bird a few years ago. He had an equivalent IQ to a 3-year-old child and was able to identify (and speak the name of) a number of different objects presented to him.
He also did this strange dance for me whenever I had a piece of fruit in my hand.
But he was a remarkable creature, so it's definitely a sad bit of news for the University of Arizona dept of biology.
/* No Comment */
That's what most people know of Dr. Pepperberg's work with Alex and the other African Grey's she works with(Griffin and Wart are their names I believe, so no, the adventure doesn't end here by any means :-) ), but while Dr. Pepperberg's tight controls and careful interpretation of her data give her results a rock-solid foundation and those question-answer sessions ARE at the core of those results, it's what Alex did PRODUCTIVELY and SPONTANEOUSLY that really puts her research over the top for me.(note, the following statements, unless otherwise noted, are based on claims made directly, and clearly supported by cited evidence, by Dr. Pepperberg in 'The Alex Studies', available from Amazon.com-HIGHLY recommended for those interested in the subject in general and especially for those interested in her work in particular)
:P ) :D ) And I'll leave it to the reader to run a search on 'banerry' and the relevant names(Hint: a newsletter account of Alex uttering 'yummy bread' while eating cake bears some relevance!) And and...and....
Alex didn't just use words;he played creatively with similar variants of words he just learned(i.e. 'cane', 'shane', etc.), not unlike the manner in which young children probe for new words. Also similar to very young children, when alone he would hold private monologues and dialogs with himself similar but NOT identical to interactions with researchers during the previous day. He not only acquired the use of, at minimum, a slot-based grammatical rule(i.e. 'I want x', 'Wanna go y'), and could answer non-'grammatical' but highly conjunctive-recursive questions such as 'how many three-cornered blue paper?(And YES, whatever issues you may be about to raise regarding possible cuing-expectation or otherwise-she accounted for and took appropriate and sufficient precautions against!)but SPONTANEOUSLY began to use, ON HIS OWN, simple rules of word order in some of his answers(e.g. 'three-cornered wood') Recent research had since shown-Google it or check newsletters at her site-that he indeed had deep and robust understanding of the words he used;for example, having some difficulty producing the sound for 'P', he pronounced 'spool' as 's-pause-wool', a very 'phonetic' solution to the problem(Chompskians reading this should be wailing and gnashing their teeth about now!
And oh yeah, that remind me;Alex COMMENTED-a LOT-in the name-it-then-claim-it variety(Any parent with toddlers should know exactly what I'm talking about!
For anyone who doubts the full intentionality on Alex's part in such statements as 'I'm gonna go now'(followed by him, uhhhh, leaving by climbing down from the his perch and walking away) and 'I wanna X', some accounts quoted DIRECTLY from 'The Alex Studies':
"...If he was on the gym and stretching toward another location (e.g. his cage), he would alter the phrase somewhat to "Wanna go gym-no" or "Wanna go... Wanna go... " If trainers asked, "Wanna go back?" his reply was often a squeaky "Yeah." We...uttered sentence frames such as "I'm putting you on the chair."Here, sit on my shoulder." and avoided using the phrase "Wanna go Y".... We wanted to see what he would do. within 3 months he began using "Wanna go Y" with various Ys." (pgs. 245-246)
Alex further demonstrated the intentionality of such utterances by the simple act of refusing to leave the researcher's hand if taken somewhere other than where he requested.
And with regard to what I choose to call 'commenting':
"Alex's behavior during training differed from that during probe trials. His accuracy declined considerably. This decrease appeared, however, to have little to do with understanding the task. Alex began to (1)label and grab favored items before we asked questions, or (2) respond to many queries with either the label "green" (while pulling at the gre
I feel very sorry for the owner of Alex. He was a very special parrot. I have a parrot named Poncho and he is about 32 years old and hearing the news made take a little more peticular care of him. I once wrote a paper on my talking parrot and included the research of Alex that he could form syntex. I did this for my linguistic class the the professor was quite surprised. It got me a better grade and I passed the difficult class. I owe it to the information on Alex, the intelligent parrot. although I think my parrot understands what he is telling me. I am very sorry to hear this news.
yes, it is. while it's true greys are notorious feather pluckers, you have to understand that they don't do it in the wild. only in captivity, so yes it is a BIG sign alot is wrong. ONly a grey owner can tell you that Alex's intelligence is no surprise. I have two of them. They are all very intelligent; but, we appreciate the gift they are to us and hopefully, don't exploit that like Pepperberg does. I suspect the bird was stressed out from too much work. I saw videos of Pepperberg and her assistants training Alex and they hit him in the beak to get him to elicit a remark. I would never treat my bird that way, greys are very sensitive and so intelligent, I am sure he knew he was being manipulated every day. They bond so much to people, with lab assistants constantly changing will stress out an African Grey, they need stability with their human flock, else they will attach to a person and then the person leaves them. They can get a broken heart very easily. Also, I am sure an environment where he has to perform constantly or get hit on the beak was humiliating and frustrating. He was quoted as always saying "I'm sorry." The poor bird, how confusing. All the articles I read indicate that he knew how to communicate frustration, and is quoted as saying "wanna go back" when he'd had enough. They should have listened, I am sure he had enough. I think the lab training borders on abuse, I've heard it's 8-10 hours a day. In the wild, those birds forage most of the day with their flock, not stand on a perch and get hit in the face if they don't memorize colors and numbers and words. While I realize the research is valuable, where do we draw the line? Isn't ten years of service in a lab enough.. but 30??? I've seen pictures of Griffin her other parrot, his feathers are all plucked it's shameful. Get those birds out of there. PUtting a bird so intelligent into a lab situation for 30 years is like locking a race horse up in a small barn and making it roll over for treats. That's just wrong. I think enough is enough, she has proven her point, but as I said, anybody who owns an African Grey parrot can tell you how much they can learn. Irene Pepperberg's research should be monitored closely. Grey's need to bond with and live with their mate person; they fall in love with their owner and other people, they are wired to mate for life. They shouldn't be living in a lab, they're too intelligent. That's like keeping a dolphin in a swimming pool. There's my two cents; I suspect other people feel this way but are afraid to knock the famous Dr. Pepperberg. Thank you Dr. for doing this research. You can stop now, please leave those wonderful birds alone &^#!! please. Seriously.