Is this amazing
grey parrot. There's a lot of debate regarding how "aware" animals really are, but all too many stories rely on anecdotes, unconfirmed reports, or even outright
hoaxes. This animal, a bird of all things, seems to be the proof that animals can understand an amazing abstract concept: "ZERO"
There are "some people" in the administration who can't bend their heads around this, or even the effects of pursuing "zero sum" policies...
At the ripe age of 29, Alex has mastered important tasks like counting to six, understanding that corn is yellow, and knowing the differences among a variety of shapes.
Call him a birdbrain if you must; he'll probably take it as a compliment. This is because Alex, an African gray parrot, is a prime example of birds' abilities to exhibit higher brain functions than humans usually give them credit for.
You have to give credit to the inspirational abilities of good, educational programming like Cosmos, or many shows from NOVA...
For the past 28 years, Alex has been under the care and tutelage of Irene Pepperberg, an adjunct associate professor of psychology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Pepperberg, who grew up with common budgerigar parakeets as company, began her work after seeing early episodes of Nova that showed language work performed with other types of animals (my emphasis).
Now here's the really stunning thing - Alex seems to have grasped the concept of zero - something even the Romans never accomplished with their numbering system, although both Mayans and Hindus seemed to have used it...
Irene describes the moment where she first realized how far Alex had come...
One day, Pepperberg asked him, "What color three?"
"Five," Alex responded.
Puzzled, Pepperberg went back and forth with the bird, trying to understand why he was answering with a number instead of a color. He could have been bored ... or simply (gave) wrong answers to indicate he's tired of playing along, Pepperberg said. "OK, smarty, what color five?" Pepperberg finally asked, knowing there weren't five objects of the same color on the tray.
"None," he replied.
Alex didn't come up with the word on his own. Pepperberg said he knew it in the sense of absence from a study he'd been involved in on determining differences and similarities between objects -- but this use was unique.
Animals are amazing, but even more so when you realize how closely related we all are - to each other - something beautiful and amazing that is denied by the short-sightedness and small-mindedness exhibited by all those who try to attack "evolution" a red flag to these people.
As Charles Darwin, not only an incredible moral giant -ahead of his time, but the epitome of the good scientist noted - we are all a lot more closely related than we care to think. And these relations not only concern the connections defined by the physical structure of animals, but also the emotional, or mental structure that is the foundation for concious thought.
So let's take a moment to celebrate all the wonders that science has revealed to us, and has yet to show us in the future...