Alex, the African grey parrot, Psittacus erithacus and his colored blocks.
As you know, I have spent my life researching, breeding and living with birds, especially parrots. I have also had the distinct pleasure of meeting Irene Pepperberg several times, both at professional meetings as well as at avicultural meetings. However, yesterday, I received the devastating news that Alex the African grey parrot, who was both a study subject and colleague to Irene Pepperberg, died unexpectedly on 7 September 2007, at 31 years of age.
Even though Alex was a research animal, he was much more than that. He was both a teacher and colleague, as well as a long-term friend to Irene. This species of parrot generally lives to be 50-60 years old, so Alex was only middle-aged when he died. Alex had always been a healthy parrot, however, he once was gravely ill with aspergillosis, an infection of the lungs and other body tissues caused by the fungus, Aspergillus [free PDF (scroll down) and PDF] (my own experience with aspergillosis in parrots is that is is nearly impossible to cure). Despite this illness, Alex’s cause of death will not be known until after a necropsy has been completed. A necropsy is an autopsy carried out on an animal’s body.
Irene Pepperberg purchased Alex from a Chicago pet store in 1977, when he was approximately one year of age, or perhaps younger. Pepperberg named him “ALEX”, the acronym for the research project, Avian Learning EXperiment, was randomly chosen by the shopowner from his collection of African grey parrots at Pepperberg’s request, since she sought a bird that was an average representative of its species.
Alex, being quite a character, quickly took over Pepperberg’s life by teaching her all he knew about cognition and communication. As early as 1999, he was able to “identify 50 different objects and understand quantities up to 6; he could distinguish 7 colors and 5 shapes, and understand the concepts of ‘bigger’, ‘smaller’, ‘same’, and ‘different’, and he was learning ‘over’ and ‘under’,” according to the New York Times. By 2002, Alex had a vocabulary of more than 100 words.
Alex’s learning process is based on the rival-model technique in which two humans demonstrate to the bird what is to be learned. Alex and Pepperberg have been affiliated with Purdue University, Northwestern University, the University of Arizona, the MIT Media Lab, the Radcliffe Institute, and most recently, Harvard University and Brandeis University.
Alex’s abilities were not limited to the lab, however. As a television guest star, Alex deftly upstaged Alan Alda in an episode of Scientific American Frontiers on PBS [PBS video]. Later, in 1999, Pepperberg published The Alex Studies, which is a comprehensive review of her decades of learning about cognition and communication from Alex, research that she has applied to helping children with learning disabilities.
Alex was in good health at his most recent annual physical about two weeks ago. According to the vet who conducted his necropsy, there was no obvious cause of death.
Even though Alex is gone, Pepperberg’s work continues with Alex’s two avian companions, both African grey parrots, Griffin and Wart (Arthur). If you would like to help keep her research going, please send a donation in Alex’s memory to;
The Alex Foundation
c/o Dr. Irene Pepperberg
Department of Psychology/MS-062
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454
A press release about this tragic and sudden loss will be published on Monday.
You are welcomed to post your condolences regarding this sudden loss of a great colleague and teacher.