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Alex the Parrot’s posthumous paper shows his mathematical genius

Final experiments reveal talent on a par with chimps.

by Ewen Callaway

Even in death, the world’s most accomplished parrot continues to amaze. The final experiments involving Alex — an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) trained to count objects — have just been published.

They show that Alex could accurately add together two Arabic numerals to a sum of eight and the total number of objects under three cups, putting his mathematical abilities on par with (and maybe beyond) those of chimpanzees and other non-human primates. The work appears in the journal Animal Cognition.

Alex gained world renown for his ability to learn and voice labels for dozens of different objects and concepts, such as colour, size and quantity. His primary trainer, Harvard University psychologist Irene Pepperberg, even reported that Alex understood a “zero-like” concept. In early September 2007, Alex said to Pepperberg: “You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow.” The next day, the 31-year-old parrot was found dead of what was determined to be a heart event, probably related to hardened arteries (see Farewell to a famous parrot).

Pepperberg and her colleagues had been testing Alex on a series of tasks pushing the limits of his mathematic prowess…

(read more: Nature) (photo: )

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    I am forever in awe of this bird. He is maybe my number one dead animal I would love to have met. Possibly tied with an...

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