Alex, a gifted parrot, in command of 100 English words, able to count to six, capable to identify colors and express frustration when scientific experiments repeated was found dead in his cage, after 30 years of helping researchers discover more about avian brain.

An evening earlier, on Thursday, his owner and Brandeis University scientist Irene Pepperberg told him “You be good. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” And Alex responded as usual, “You’ll be in tomorrow.”

What caused Alex’s death is unknown, the necropsy performed over the week-end showing no apparent cause. Alex appeared to be in good shape at the checkup two weeks earlier and the day before his death showed no sign of health problems. A grey African parrot usually lives in captivity more than 50 years, so Alex’s death took everybody by surprise, a sad one in fact.

Pepperberg, who was trained as a chemist at Harvard, bought him 30 years ago from a pet shop and, fascinated by animals’ communication, began teaching Alex by using a new technique word, to classify objects by color, shape or material. The scientist was devastated after she learned about his death, as she used to work with her parrot every day, all throughout 30 years.

Pepperberg published tens of researches in scientific journals, shattering the common belief that only dolphins and apes have the necessary abilities to understand human language. Alex, an acronym that stands for Avian Learning Experiment, challenged the meaning of “bird brain”, making it a compliment.

Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old child, but the emotional behavior of a two-year child. When he got bored or exhausted, he would throw tantrums and refuse to answer correctly, although he knew the answers, just like a stubborn little child.

Alex’s replacements are far from close to his abilities, the two other African parrots having to face many years of training until they reach his level.

Image Courtesy: The Alex Foundation