The SMARTEST PARROT in the WORLD (Alex the African Gray)

Image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto from Pixabay 

we should all know pirates can articulate human words but we may not be so sure whether they know what they are saying or are simply imitating sounds the story of alex the parrot and how a 30-year psychological experiment amazed everyone who heard it helps to provide an answer stay with this article to know more.

1.the origins of alex and irene:

 alex was an african grey parrot born in 1976 when he was just over a year old he came to be in the hands of american ethologist and psychologist irene pepperberg dr pepperberg named him alex as an acronym for avian learning experiment as she was conducting a study at indiana university usa.

2.dr pepperberg's study:

irene wanted to teach alex to demonstrate the intelligence of birds up until this point science had claimed only primates had the ability to develop an understanding of language it was believed that birds such as macaws cockatoos and other parrots could only imitate sounds without being aware of their meaning to begin alex's learning dr pepperberg decided to apply a teaching method based on three roles  the student the trainer and the model in this case alex was the student and he had to watch interactions between the trainer and the model the model displaying desired student behavior the idea was for the trainer to say a word which the model would imitate and then receive a prize for doing so correctly alex would not only notice the model getting rewarded for imitating the word but he would become jealous of the interactions and want to be involved alex began to respond like the model so that he could receive the reward the result irene hoped for.

3.alex's intelligence: 

after much learning alex was able to identify objects numbers colors and shapes he could also differentiate between sizes and see other differences between objects he came to use his own vocabulary which consisted of around 150 words eventually identifying letters and phonemes he said sorry when he was wrong and i want to go back when he was tired and wish to return to his cage but this was not the only aspect which surprised the world this incredible bird was able to ask a question looking at himself in the mirror alex seemed to ask what color his own feathers were something so exceptional no other animal had previously done so according to dr pepperberg alex had the same intellectual capacity as a five-year-old child she was able to demonstrate the parrots not only imitate but are capable of reasoning at a basic level and creating words the pirate acquired so much knowledge he could be described as having his own personality according to dr pepperberg's students alex often used to tell him i want corn or i want to climb on your shoulder there were even days when he hung his head and said i want to be tickled as if he were a child.

4.alex's passing:

a low african greys typically live an average of 50 years alex passed at only 31 years old it happened on september 6 2007 it is believed his death was due to the disease arteriosclerosis from which he suffered it likely caused a stroke or heart failure pepperberg explained that on his final day he said goodbye in his usual way when pepperberg said goodnight he replied you be good i love you see you tomorrow dr pepperberg wrote a book as a tribute to alex in which she collected her three decades of learning in it she wrote the following his own conduct at the time of learning revealed to us how much remains to be discovered in the field of animal intelligence if you want to continue learning about intelligent animals you'll want to hear the incredible story that we share here about clever hands the mathematical horse.