Alex graupapagei irene pepperberg biography

Parrot used for experiments (1976–2007)

Alex (May 18, 1976 – September 6, 2007)^[1] was a grey parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologistIrene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University.

When Alex was about one year old, Pepperberg bought him at a pet shop.^[2] In her book "Alex & Me", Pepperberg describes her unique relationship with Alex and how Alex helped her understand animal minds.^[3] Alex was an acronym for avian language experiment,^[4] or avian learning experiment.^[5]

Before Pepperberg's work with Alex, it was widely believed in the scientific community that a large primate brain was needed to handle complex problems related to language and understanding; birds were not considered to be intelligent, as their only common use of communication was mimicking and repeating sounds to interact with each other.

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