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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.'"
in other news, 300 Chinese people died from a coal mine explosion.
Blame Canada!
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.
Can you explain to me why this story isn't newsworthy? It's not like this was just someone's personal parrot. This was a very important and rather famous research animal. I've seen him on more than one TV show. I think I've seen him on the evening news once. I know he was a segment on an episode of Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
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
For me, the sign of the decline of Slashdot isn't that they are posting articles on the death of Alex. It's that the readership thinks only articles about iPhones, CPUs and videogames are "news for nerds."
Or maybe, just maybe, he (like many Slashdotters, including myself) actually knew who Alex was, because a) he's famous and b) we have more varied interests than just whether Apple is going to release a new iPod or not.
Non-human intelligence is interesting for some of us, even if said non-humans don't come from another planet.
You missed "spontaneously offering up other little details in conversation" like he was interested in, and wanted to talk about the subject. I am sure it's on Youtube somewhere, the one when he's eating corn and they have a conversation about it.
And, making generalizations that far surpassed what some of the top dolphins have done, and what we are barely doing with chimps now.
Heck, I have met people in bars with less cognitive awareness than this bird.
It's not a duplicate. It's something other than the usual "someone got agitated over a misunderstanding on a *BSD/Linux mailing list and we misinterpreted it even further for you". It is news from one of the "soft" sciences that are nice to read for a change now and then.
I'd actually like to nominate this a one of kdawsons best use of editorial control for a long while.
I don't have modpoints and you're at +5 already, so let me instead say: BRAVO. Well said.
This sort of quirky, hard-to-categorise but somehow "of geeky interest" story is what brought me here. Sadly, in recent years, such stories have come along every few months, buried under a flood of flamebait RIAA/MS are evil / fanbait Google/Apple are glorious tripe, which are clearly just trolling for maximum ad impressions. And when they DO come along, someone pops up and complains they're not related to Halo 3 or whatever idiotic computer game is flavour of the month at the moment, and therefore not news for nerds.
Do you remember Koko, the signing chimpanzee? Or Sitka, the first dog that was shot into space? These animals were symbolically important in scientific history. The case of Alex is particularly important, because it suggests that it is interaction (that is, the close relationship between learner and teacher) that is as important as innate capability in structuring cognitive function. Research like this is hard to repeat, since it involves actually creating a long-term relationship, including an emotional one, with your research subject. (Imagine trying to raise a child you didn't care about - it's the same problem.)
The ad hominem isn't against me. It's what I see as your campaign against kdawson, which is what motivated your remark to begin with. I don't really notice who-edits-what - I'm not really a Slashdot trainspotter - but you assumed that since he posted it, it must not have been of value or interest. You were wrong.
And the "practically useful knowledge" remark reinforces my observation about iPhones, CPUs and videogames.
"From what I have heard" some slashdotter's think they know more about things they have never heard of than the actual scientists who have spent decades studying the subject. That's nothing like science, it's just the parroting of ancient man/beast concepts.
As the owner of many large parrots and dogs over the last 40yrs, I can attest to the fact that both species understand certain words, phrases and gestures to the point that they can comunicate what they desire. Of course the owner also needs a modicum of intelligence before the animal goes to the trouble of communicating with them.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
So, if you or your relative's pet dies, I can tell either you or them to get over it, because a couple hundred people were killed in drunk driving accidents?
I think you're full of it.
These creatures were meant to fly free in their native rain forests
Creatures are not "meant" to do anything, unless you believe in an invisible friend in the sky who is pulling all of our strings like puppets.
As long as it's happy -- as long as any pet is happy, for that matter -- why does it matter if they're not living in their natural habitat? Just because there's one more parrot in the US doesn't mean there's one less in Africa. You should be attacking people who abuse them, not somebody who has given one a caring home.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Keeping a parrot != Keeping a parrot in a cage.
Mal's cage door only shuts at night. He has half of my entire living room to himself, a veritable jungle. He treats us like he'd treat his flock in the wild. And regardless of what you call "anthopomorphizing", his intelligence really is impressive, and we've tested it. A common demonstration that I'll do is to put a finger front of him and then say some random word. He does nothing. Then I'll say up, and he goes up. I can hold him over a trash can, and say "Go potty", and if he can go, he does right then. He really does solve the sort of puzzles that I described (I have video -- want to see it?), and he really, honestly does address us by name, and he really isn't happy if the wrong person comes. If I'm cooking dinner, 98% of the time, he calls for me ("Kareh!). If Elaine is, 98% of the time, it's for her. This isn't anecdotal; we've been paying extra attention to this. If this is some sort of "trick", as opposed to name recognition, I'd really like to know how he's pulling it off. I can take video if you need it.
Re, flying: he can still "fly", just not gain altitude. All that matters is that he not be able to make it to a kitchen burner or a ceiling fan. He can still cover the distance halfway across the house. Furthermore, Amazons are a lot more oriented to climbing than to flying (if you've ever looked at one, they're rather stocky birds). They love to climb (hence the standard advice to make sure that their cages have plenty of horizontal bars).
Anyways, who are you to tell me that even though my (captive raised) bird is demonstrably happy, that he'd somehow be better off starving and trying to dodge predators out in western Mexico (his native habitat)? Hey, you're a human -- your native habitat is the plains of east-central Africa. Want me to ship you back over there? Even if Mal was wild raised and knew how to survive out there (which he isn't; he'd die quickly), he'd undoubtedly be shunned by the other local parrots since he doesn't know their habits and they're very social, "community-oriented" animals.
Anyways, Mal just called Elaine (who is fixing breakfast) and said he wanted up. She just picked him up, and he just said, "Good Elaine!". Breakfast will be ready in just a minute, so I better get going.
By a scallop's forelocks!
Something tells me most Americans are already doing this.
I'm in between insightful sigs right now...
Okay, enough with the drama. First of all, my bird would never be in a rain forest because he is Australian. Second of all, I am pretty sure that my bird would argue with you about how cruel his existence is if he could talk.
He is fully flighted. I take him outside with me all the time. He pretty much has free reign of the house when I am home. When I am not home he has to play all day in his gym and listen to the radio. He is only in a cage to sleep which I think he would prefer to being hunted 24/7. He was not wild caught so all of the things you're complaining about are non-applicable. Rather than saying no one should have birds as pets, perhaps you should say that people should do their homework before they buy animals to make sure things are on the up and up. The birth of my bird didn't affect Africa or Australia any more than my birth is affected Switzerland or England.
It is tragic that bad things happen. It is more tragic when people over-react to those bad things and tromp all over things that make people happy.