Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”
He was found dead in his cage the next morning, and was determined to have died late Thursday night.
Monday, September 10, 2007
An unbearably poignant obituary
for Alex, the African Grey parrot who knew more than a hundred words:
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Now in the article I just read, it said:
ReplyDeletePepperberg said she and Alex went through their good-night routine, in which she told him it was time to go in the cage and said: "You be good. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow." To which Alex said, "You'll be in tomorrow."
Which is interesting, in a linguistic/journalism kind of way, because not only is the quote differently attributed, but the wording is different.
I wrote a paper my sophomore year about language skills in non-human animals, and Alex was one of the stars. How great that the NYT wrote him an obit! I wonder if Washoe and Kanzi will get one when their time comes? They're both pretty remarkable chimps!
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