Today, you would be hard pressed to find anyone, scientist or layperson, who thinks that animals operate purely on instinct and have little to no intelligence at all.

It wasn’t terribly long ago, however, that this was not the case. Some people thought that all the actions of animals were instincts, and others thought that even what appeared to be intelligence was actually just mimicry or other survival traits.

Of course, even generations ago, there were people who thought animals understood far more than they were given credit for.

Back in 1976, a baby African gray parrot was born who would eventually help to reshape the world’s idea of animal intelligence.

He was a pretty normal parrot at birth, and eventually made his way to a pet store, where he was purchased by Irene Pepperberg. She is an animal psychologist who was working on completing her PhD in theoretical chemistry.

In addition to companionship, she hoped to study this bird’s cognitive capabilities and communication potential. Parrots were well known for being able to talk (even though many doubted that this was actually communication), so it made an excellent test subject.

She named the parrot Alex, which stood for Avian Language Experiment, and went on to work with him for decades. She mostly used the model/rival technique to teach Alex words, concepts, and more. This technique is when there are two trainers, and one demonstrates a behavior that they want the bird to display.

When the bird performs the behavior, they are rewarded, and when they don’t, they are ‘scolded’ with an object being taken away. Then, the other trainer can step in to try to repeat the process, showing that the bird actually knows what it is doing and that it is not just a repetitive action with one person.

Alex proved to be a great student and learned many words, shapes, colors, and more. One day, Alex astounded not just his trainers but the world with a simple question. A laboratory student, Kathy Davidson, was with the bird while it was in a bathroom. She recalls the conversation that took place.

“What’s that?” Alex asked while looking in the mirror.

“That’s you, you’re a parrot.” Davidson replied.

Alex then said, “What color?”

To which Davidson answered, “Gray. You’re a Gray Parrot, Alex.”

This is a clear example of when Alex wasn’t just taught to repeat things, but actually showed curiosity and understanding. This is also the first time that Alex learned the word gray, which he could then repeat and use in context.

In 1999, Pepperberg published a book entitled “The Alex Studies,” which discussed the many achievements that Alex had made over the years.

These include identifying 50 unique objects, knowing seven colors, understanding five shapes, and knowing the difference between under and over. Alex could also count items up to six and identify different materials.

Sadly, in 2007, Alex died of unknown causes at a young (for a parrot) age of 31. He died at night, and the evening before his death, he uttered his final words to Pepperberg:

“You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow.”

What an amazing bird, and one that helped to reshape our relationship with animals in many positive ways.

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