The ending chapters of “Alex and Me” were very interesting. Alex became an extremely smart bird, and exceeded boundaries which were thought to be unattainable by “a bird brain”. I last left off talking about how Alex was learning labels of different objects. Now, Alex could label an object by its proper label, as well as label it by color or shape. This form of cognition was thought only to be achieved by humans, but Alex surpassed yet another boundary.
After years of training Alex was able to able to understand the concept of apologizing. This happened completely accidental. He was not trained to understand this concept. He learned it by listening to students in the lab. Often students would apologize for spilling something in the lab. Pepperberg states that Alex must have heard this and applied it to his new vocabulary. What I found very astonishing was that Alex, was not only able to produce the words “I’m sorry”, he actually understood what he was saying. Here is an example. Alex had knocked over a cup with coffee, and the cup broke into pieces. Pepperberg then looked down and saw Alex walking around in the coffee and broken glass. Her first reaction was to yell at him because she was scared of him getting hurt. Immediately after her reaction Alex said “I’m sorry…I’m sorry” (Pepperberg 94). He realized that she was angry and kept apologizing. This meant that Alex understood the concept of apologizing, and was able to completely pronounce it, which was yet another boundary he was not supposed to accomplish.
Alex’s training started to become extremely successful. Peperberg was trying to introduce a new label to Alex. It was an apple. Alex had already learned the label for both a banana and a cherry, and she pronounced the new label like usual for Alex, but he had no intention on learning this new label. Instead he gave the apple a label of his own. He called it “Banerry”. Pepperberg tried correcting him but he refused, he stuck to his label. Pepperberg slowly pronounced the word apple for Alex, but in return Alex slow said “Ban-erry” (Pepperberg104). Pepperberg explained this label that Alex made up as his way of seeing an apple, he saw it as a giant cheery and it tasted somewhat like an apple, therefore he gave it the label “Banerry”. This achievement showed that Alex was actually comprehending language, and not just mimicking what he was being taught to say.
Although I really enjoyed this book, I have a favorite moment. This was when Alex was learning phonemes. Pepperberg started by showing Alex letters that he already knew. She wanted him to pronounce only the sound, so that he could later realize that the same sound could be applied to make words using the same sound. She started with the letter s and he said “ssss”, which was correct. Alex wanted a nut, so he said “want a nut” (Pepperberg 178). Pepperberg wanted him to wait so she continued with the next sound, which was “shhhh”, and Alex again got it correct. Alex kept insisting on a nut, but Pepperberg wanted him to wait. Alex, being a smart bird said “want a nut. Nnn…uh…tuh” (Pepperberg 179). Alex sounded out all the phonemes in the word nut, showing that he had the ability to do so. I find this situation quite funny yet, I’m so astonished by it. A chimp was not able to understand this kind of cognition, yet “a bird brain” was able to do so all on his own.
Before I read this book I asked myself, out of all the animals Pepperberg could have chosen, why did she pick the grey parrot? Although I do not know the exact answer to this question, I think it may have been because she wanted to prove that a non-primate animal could accomplish things that only humans were supposed to do. The book ended with Alex’s death. He was found dead in his cage one morning in the lab. Alex did more than enough in his life time; he surpassed boundaries that were once thought only to be accomplished by humans. The only question I would have for Pepperberg is, Did any of the other parrots she was training ever get to the level of intelligence that Alex had?
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