Both of these videos display his intelligence very well, I think. What I find most impressive is when he asks to go back when he did not answer something as quickly as he had wanted to. Another moment I really liked was when he was eating corn and asked his trainer to pick it up after he dropped some. These moments made him seem so human. It really goes to show the differences between these birds and dogs. Dogs only mimic the sounds and tones their owners are making while birds are actually learning shapes, sizes, colors, words, and how to communicate with us. When a dog is hungry, he won't say "It's time for dinner" like Alex did. What I think is so heartbreaking about his child-like intelligence, though, is what is last words were. As Dr. Pepperburg was leaving, Alex told her he would see her tomorrow, told her to be good, and that he loved her.
Alex was said to have the intelligence of a three or four-year-old child. He knew over one hundred words, and could tell you the colors and shapes of certain items, as well as what they are made up of. He knew numbers and could recognize quantities of up to five. Alex was also able to communicate what he wanted, and expressed emotion towards his trainer. Whenever he incorrectly identified something, he was told "no." Alex eventually learned what "no" meant and began to use it against his trainers when he didn't feel like working. He would also say no while tossing an unwanted toy back at his trainer! Eventually Alex began linking phrases together (saying "blue peg wood" instead of "blue peg, wood peg"), which is a major criterion in determining true language.
While Alex's intelligence was perhaps a bit higher than most, he was also constantly worked with for thirty years, and it is safe to say that most African Grey Parrots possess these capabilities. Most parrots are said to have the intelligence of a three-year-old child (much like Rico the border collie from my previous entry).
A study done at the University of California at San Diego showed that songbirds might be capable of learning basic grammar. The study was done as an effort to refute Noam Chomsky's theory that "recursive grammar" was something only humans could use and was key in learning language. A test with a similar goal was once performed on tamarin monkeys, but they failed. The birds were trained to press a button that played a birdsong (some had inserted clauses and some didn't), and they had to push it again if it followed a certain pattern. They let it play if it didn't. Nine out of eleven birds got it right 90% of the time. This shows that animal and language cognition is more complicated than was once believed.
More "generic" birds seem to communicate through a language more like dogs do in the fact that they use a series of sounds. Of course Alex and his fellow parrots still do this, but they possess abilities that other birds do not. The calls of birds represent how a bird is feeling in that particular moment more than it is a thought. However, much like the different warning barks and growls of a dog, birds also have their own warning chirps and cries (such as "airborne enemy approaching" and "ground enemy approaching").
Interestingly enough, bird "songs" and "calls" are two different categories. Songs are usually sung during breeding season and usually only by males. Songs are usually very loud, repetitive, and complex. They are normally made as either a territorial defense or a hope of attracting a mate. Songs are a way of making known their presence and nocturnal birds rely heavily on this (this is why the owl has such a distinct song). Calls are made any time of the year and by both sexes. These sounds are shorter and briefer than songs.
Ever notice how birds are most vocal early in the morning? This is not a lovely "Wake up and greet the day" tune for us to enjoy; this is the time of day when birds seeking territory are most active, so these are cries of challengers and defenders. Imagine if humans functioned this way-- we would all be waking up early to get to the nearest open house and scream in each other's faces until one of us gave up and flew away.
Birds are named for the sounds they make. For example, a whip-poor-will makes a sound that says just that. But when we are hearing a series of chirps and whistles, fellow birds are hearing something entirely different.
when a typical songbird, say a chaffinch, is singing, he is saying "I am a chaffinch", "I am a cock chaffinch", "I am a particular cock chaffinch","I am here", "I am in my territory", "I am ready to posture at and drive off other cock chaffinches" and if unmated "I am ready to take a mate". Each time a cock chaffinch sings "chip, chip, chip; cherry-erry-erry; fissychooee-o!" it takes him about 2.5 seconds, in 12 hours he says that phrase 3,300 times.
Like I said earlier, birds have songs, and they also have calls. Each species of birds has a different number of calls that all mean different things. The chaffinch, for example, has nine calls. They are the flight call, social call, aggressive call, injury call, and three different courtship calls as well as three different alarm calls. The only one I would like to point out is the flight call-- this call lets other birds know that it is about to take flight, and they can join it if they'd so like. This is also the call they use to coordinate flocks and flock formations (so imagine when you see a flock of birds flying-- they all seem to know when to turn at exactly the same time as each other, as if they were one entity).
While researching bird communication, I stumbled upon something else mentioned in my entry about dogs. Different dogs from different regions had different "accents." This is also very true with birds. Watch the videos of Alex the Parrot that I provided, then listen to Sparkie Williams, a world famous British budgerigar. Then compare the "voices" of the two birds.
Alex did not seem to have much of an accent, but little Sparkie had an unmistakable British accent. Alex was from Arizona while Sparkie lived in Newcastle. Sparkie, like Alex, was a very intelligent bird. He knew 550 words and could recite several nursery rhymes. He even starred in commercials.
So to conclude, most birds cannot speak in the way humans do. They rely on a series of chirps, songs, and calls to communicate. However, there are some species of parrots and other birds that are intelligent enough to learn phrases, shapes, and numbers (and they are actually learning language, not just mimicking what they hear us say!).
Animal language and communication truly is fascinating and something I'd like to learn more about.
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