The Alex Foundation has just announced that “according to the vet who conducted the necropsy, there was no obvious cause of death.”
Alex had a complete physical just two weeks ago and was found to be in good health.
The Alex Foundation will continue its work using other African Grey parrots in its program.
Dead, Not Forgotten’s obituary of Alex follows this post or can be found here.
Read the entire press release
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The Alex Foundation announced that the famed and beloved African Grey parrot, Alex, was found dead this morning, September 7, 2007, of unknown causes. The cause of death is expected to be announced in a press conference on Monday.
It is reported that Alex was fine yesterday and his death was totally unexpected.
Alex was purchased by Dr. Irene Pepperberg in 1977 at a Chicago pet store. He has been the featured African Grey parrot in more than 30 years of research into the intelligence of African Grey parrots, most recently at the Department of Psychology at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
Though he had his detractors, such as Noam Chomsky who called Alex’s talents “operant conditioning”, Alex’s intelligence is quite amazing. As far back as 2002 Alex had a vocabulary of more than 100 words and as far back as 1999 he could “identify 50 different objects and cognize quantities up to 6; that he could distinguish 7 colors and 5 shapes, and understand the concepts of “bigger”, “smaller”, “same”, and “different,” and that he was learning “over” and “under” according to the New York Times.
Wonderful stories about Alex came not only from his intelligence but also from his charm and humor. One episode that sticks with me involves a press conference where Dr. Pepperberg was trying to get Alex to identify the shape and color of an object she was hold in front of him. He gave her the cold shoulder by not saying a word, and the press conference was falling flat. Pepperberg decided to leave the stage to get another African Grey, hoping it would help Alex lighten up and respond as hoped. No sooner had she left then Alex looked at the gathered press and said very quietly, into the microphone, to the delight of his audience, “Triangle. Purple.” It sure seems like he had more going for him than Noam thought.
Thanks, Alex, for showing humans — the one animal that thinks it isn’t an animal — that animals are intelligent, even Noam Chomshky.
I will publish Alex’s cause of death next week, when it is announced.
Click here for cause of death information
For more information:
Visit the Alex Foundation website
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Too often, things that should be cherished and revered are rolled over by the next “civilization” to come down the pike. Anyone who helps to undo that destruction should be remembered for their good works. William Bright is such a man. He died on October 15, 2006 in Louisville, Colorado at the age of 78.
Having spent more than 50 years studying the indigenous languages of the United States, Bright was professor adjoint of linguistics at the University of Colorado, Boulder and was emeritus professor of linguistics and anthropology at the the University of California, Los Angeles. He was an authority on the native languages and cultures of California and was known in particular for his work on Karuk (also spelled Karok), an American Indian language from the northwest part of the state.
The tribe recently published a Karuk dictionary, compiled by Mr. Bright and Susan Gehr. Now, Karuk children learn their language in tribal schools and with the help of Bright and Gehr are bringing the language back from the brink of extinction.
His books include “American Indian Linguistics and Literature” (Mouton, 1984); “A Coyote Reader” (University of California, 1993); “1,500 California Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning” (University of California, 1998); and “Native American Placenames of the United States” (University of Oklahoma” , 2004).
For more information:
Go to William Bright, Linguistic Home Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bright
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