Alex the Parrot has died of unknown causes.

Press Release

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.”

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.

Goodbye Alex, the world will miss you — Fly high, little dude!

Baby Mammoth discovery unveiled

A baby mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of north-west Siberia could be the best preserved specimen of its type, scientists have said.

The frozen carcass is to be sent to Japan for detailed study.

The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago.

Call me crazy, immoral, pathetic, whathaveyou, but I can’t wait to see a cloned, baby mammoth. I wonder if they can make a pot-bellied variety I can keep as a pet.

By the way, it just looks like an elephant to me.
(H/T: Tales of the Burning West)

As an aside, no I haven’t finished Harry Potter. Standing in line to purchase it I couldn’t wait to get home to race through it. Now I’m finding that I’m dreading the end. Because, well, it’s the end. So I’m taking my time. And, Bruce, if you really want me to email you the ending, I will, but it may be a few more days.

The Ole Girl decided it was time to go. She was older than the hills and quite tired, afterall. She died today at about one o’clock. She stretched her legs, took a final, deep breath, and then it was over. As I mentioned, she was very old and renal failure was inevitable, so Dan and I had begun to mentally prepare for her death a long while ago. But it sucks.

Libby Dam, located on the Kootenai river, holds 90 miles of water in its reservoir, Lake Koocanusa. The visitor’s center houses many interpretive displays, one of which is a nature diorama featuring taxidermied animals native to Montana. Here we have a Mountain Lion, an otter and a Big Horn Sheep.

Here’s a trivia question for you, and the first three people to answer correctly will win a special Montana Squished Penny. Please email your answer to me at requiscat@gmail.com. Answers posted in the comments will be deleted. I won’t tell you the correct answer until I have three winners, but if you think you got it wrong on the first submission, you’re free to submit another answer. I will also keep this open until there are three winners.

The question: The reservoir at Libby Dam is Lake Koocanusa, can you tell me what language the word ‘Koocanusa’ is from, and what it means?

On to the photos, click on them for larger versions:

Update I have one correct answer so far, and two squished pennies left.

We took Bella with us on the Swan River Nature Trail in Bigfork, MT. We began downtown at a small sculpture park where she posed with a relaxing bear. By the way, she’s seven, so she’s not really a puppy.

Can you spot the three mountain goats in this photo? No? Try the next one.

Okay, so it’s still far off, but you should be able to see three white dots (it helps to click the photo for a larger view) — those are goats. Really, they’re there!

For more information, check out the Goat Lick PDF. This opens with Adobe Acrobat.

Quote from email:

“They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated. He was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables. When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them. They noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly peeved!”