Irene Pepperberg: An Analysis Of Humorous Wings, By Irene Pepperberg

Haven’t you always wondered what animals think about or how they see the world? If you could ask your animal questions would we get a better understanding of how the minds work of our fellow creatures? Irene Pepperberg used this approach with Alex, her male African grey parrot, whom she called her “close colleague.” She taught Alex simple words and phrases to communicate with her so she could get a better understanding of how parrots view the world. If Alex was hungry, he would tell her. If Alex was irritated with something, he would repeatedly say “no” till he was pleased. I would have never thought of the idea of teaching parrots our language to have a real conversation with them and get a deeper understanding of their expressions and how