Brainy parrot Alex dies at 31

AFP, September, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Alex, the African grey parrot who gained celebrity for his exceptional communication skills, has died at the age of 31, his owner, comparative psychologist Irene Pepperberg, has announced.

Alex was taught more than 100 English words by Pepperberg and could hold a limited conversation using phrases such as "I want X" or "I want to go Y", with the variables referring to appropriate objects or locations.

The bird could also identify 50 objects, seven colors, five shapes and quanties up to six, Pepperberg, who works at Brandeis and Harvard Universities, both near Boston, Massachusetts, said on a website devoted to Alex.

The parrot "showed the emotional equivalent of a two-year-old child and intellectual equivalent of a five-year-old,"...