Gifted research parrot Alex found dead
Catherine here
Karen did preempt me!
A good thing, too.
I've written my account of Alex, and of meeting the parrot here in New York whom I believe has language, here. [whom? one of these days I will learn grammar]
I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: I emerged from writing Animals in Translation thinking that birds are way smart, possibly smarter than people. Alex was one of the reasons for that feeling.
The Times obit says that Alex worked with Dr. Pepperberg, his owner, up to the day of his death.
Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, she recalled, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”
He was found dead in his cage the next morning, Dr. Pepperberg said.
update
I've just read the MSNBC account.
Pepperberg said the last time she saw Alex on 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."
Correct use of the pronoun "you" is language.
Many, many autistic children can't use "you" in this way, including Jimmy (though I think he can use it correctly.....I'm going to have to see if I can figure this out).
Jimmy always used "you" to mean "I."
"Do you want some fries" meant "I want some fries."
He has been using the pronoun "I' correctly for years now, but I'm not sure whether he uses "you" to mean someone he's addressing.
This is a terrible loss:
Pepperberg said Alex hadn't reached his full cognitive potential and was demonstrating the ability to take distinct sounds from words he knew and combine them to form new words. Just last month he pronounced the word "seven" for the first time.The cause of Alex's death was unknown. The African Grey parrot's average life span is 50 years, Pepperberg said.
Apparently parrots are extremely vulnerable living in captivity. (I don't know about their health status in the wild).
That Damn Bird
video of Irene Pepperberg describing Alex
Meet Alex the Parrot
You did preempt me!
ReplyDeleteBut thanks!
ReplyDeleteHmmm . . . perhaps great minds think alike??
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it's just a case of synchronicity . . .
Or both!
ReplyDeleteIt is strangely ironic how scientists are "devastated" and "grieving" over a damn bird, yet will we have issues such as the 'Jena Six' and the tortured young woman in W. Virginia surfacing now, in wich there is a "possibility" of it being charged as a hate crime when it is pretty obvious it was, just as it was when those the white guys hung nooses over a tree yet those black guys were the ones facing possibly years and years of jailtime. Not trying to burst a bubble over the world's smartest parrot, but there are more serious issues going on these days. So long, Alex. At least he didnt have to deal with the sub-primitive issues we humans have to deal with.
ReplyDelete"...over a damn bird.."
ReplyDelete"..Hate crime, wich[sic] it is pretty obvious is.."
You polically correct turd! A "damn bird" you say??!! Alex had more brain power and cognitive thinking ability than you have, you piece of shit!...OBVIOUSLY! His small brain has helped and encouraged more scientific proceedures to help learning disabled children communicate and fit in with society than just about any other program.
I'll tell you something, "Anonymous," I was devastated and am still grieving over Alex's untimely death, and I'm sure that "damn bird" was more of a companion to Dr. Pepperberg, and had more intellectual agility than your small, pea-brain could ever even imagine.
So, shove your sophmoric comment up your politically correct ASS!
Some languages don't even technically have pronouns. It is a difficult concept to learn, even for children (for a while they refer to themselves in the third person).
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I don't think pronouns are even a language universal, although static references.
Vietnamese for example, has social reference nouns, or something along those lines. The idea is the boy lover in a relationship might assume a reference noun "A", and the girl "B". So for both of them to say "I love you", the boy would say "A love B" while the girl would say "B love A".
I think pronouns evolved from those.
*although static references are.
ReplyDeleteoops.