Pepper
retrospectacle | February 14, 2008A Valentine to all Scienceblogs readers, from Pepper!
(Thanks to Aaron for the picture!)
retrospectacle | August 2, 2007 Rebecca O'Connor, graduate student at the University of California- Riverside, knows why parrots screech and bite and it has a lot more to do with human behavior than the bird's. She's written a book incorporating animal-training techniques, detailing how to improve the manners of an ill-mannered bird by rewarding good behavior while keeping a handle on your own emotions.
Part of an emerging group of behaviorists who reject old ideas of punishing and dominating birds, O'Connor is gaining national attention with her book, "A Parrot for Life: Raising and Training the Perfect Parrot Companion…
retrospectacle | April 10, 2007I was just chuckling at PZ's lament about the sub-par potential of octopi to open a beer for you:
I was thinking it would be so cool to have an octopus on your shoulder, and you hold up your beer bottle, and he reaches out an arm and twists the top off for you. And then you read a little further and discover that the little smart-aleck will only do it if you open it first and put some octopus food inside for it. I wouldn't mind a bit of shrimp or crab bobbing about in my beer, but having to open the bottle first to put it in there defeats the whole purpose of carrying a bottle-opening octopus…
retrospectacle | January 31, 2007
In the comments of the Gene Jeans post, Robster from Wonkabout made me this cool picture, which I think deserved a post. Thanks Robster!
retrospectacle | November 17, 2006
The wild bird trade, which is where exotic birds are trapped in their natural habitats and shipped away for pets, has devastated many types of parrot species. Thankfully this practice is now illegal in much of the world, however many parrot species have the unfortunate luck as to live in countries where these laws are enforced somewhat less that stringently. Up until now, African Greys have been spared this fate. However, recent data on their populations in the 23 countries in which they reside show their numbers rapidly on the decline. In fact, they may soon be added to the official 'red…
retrospectacle | November 16, 2006I'm about to send these questions out to Dr. Pepperberg (hopefully for next week's Grey Matters), and wanted some feedback. Also, please suggest questions if you have some!
Q. Initially your research background was not in comparative cognition and language. How did you become interested in this field?
Q: Human language processing and production relies on specific brain structures (Broca's and Wernicke's areas). Are there thought to be equivalent structures in the avian brain?
Q. Why might parrots have evolved to be such superior mimics, and how would this serve them well in the wild?
Q. Do…
retrospectacle | November 13, 2006The Queen of England recently visited the frigate HMS Lancaster, however one usual crew member was not on board---the resident pet, an African Grey named Sunny. It was feared that Sunny's foul mouth--who swears like a sailor, literally-- might offend Her Highness, so the parrot was put into "retirement."
The mascot's salty utterings included "a**e", "feck" and phrases such as "Zulus, thousands of 'em," and "You ain't seen nothing, right?"
She is now living with Tony Sawyer and his wife in Penarth, South Wales.
Tony said: "She goes through quite a repertoire but we are trying to tone the…
retrospectacle | November 3, 2006
We've been talking a lot about life span here on ScienceBlogs, and on Retrospectacle. So, thought for this week's Grey Matters I'd talk a bit about the life span of African Grey parrots. In a nutshell, they live a long time--about 60-80 years. Although, there have been a few accounts of captive Greys living past 100 years of age! This fact is often a huge surprise to people looking into buying a Grey parrot, and should be weighed very heavily before making the jump to buy. Seriously, your getting a life partner more than a pet. Will you still want your bird when you are 70? (I know I will!)…
retrospectacle | October 27, 2006Just thought I'd post this picture of me and Pepper as a sort-of Friday Grey Matters. And was afraid he might have felt a little left out lately. Sup fool!
retrospectacle | August 8, 2006Ok, hold the phone everyone!!!!!!! A volunteer from Irene Pepperberg's lab has informed me that parrot-related merchandise is available for purchase, to help support her lab and research on grey parrots. I am totally going to buy every one of these items, er, once I get my stipend check, that is. Buy some too, and help support parrot research! Also, Alex recently turned 30. Happy Hatch-Day Alex!
If parrots could wear t-shirts, this is the one they'd pick. Feathers are much more awesome though.
Parrot pens! Alex eyes it suspiciously. I think 2 seconds after this photo was taken he either…
retrospectacle | August 8, 2006
From down under, news of parrot conservation! A 52-turbine wind-farm was shot down by local senators due to the large threat it posed to the endangered orange-bellied parrot (pictured above).
After blocking the wind farm in April because of a perceived threat to the parrot, Senator Campbell last week said the company could resubmit the proposal in exchange for dropping a Federal Court challenge to his original ruling.
Wind Power director Andrew Newbold said the company would resubmit the same proposal to Senator Campbell's department in about two or three weeks.
However, he said the…
retrospectacle | August 4, 2006
Object permanence refers to the notion that objects are separate entities that continue to exist even when we can't see them. Its the opposite of "out of sight, out of mind" in the sense that the person (or animal) realizes the object still exists in space somewhere. This may lead to searching behavior, or a memory of where the object last was placed. Human children are not born with object permanence--it develops over the first two years of our lives. This was quite a big discovery that made a psychologist named Piaget very famous in the 1950s. Turns out, African grey parrots share this…
retrospectacle | July 28, 2006
Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge's School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots."
Meet N'kisi, a captive bred, hand raised Congo African Gray Parrot. He is 4-1/2 years old, and has been learning "language" for 4 years. He is now one of the world's top "language-using" animals, with an apparent understanding and appropriate usage of over 700 words. His owner, Aimee, intuitively taught N'kisi as one would a child, by explaining things to him…
retrospectacle | July 21, 2006
Alex is a 28-year-old African Grey parrot who lives in the lab of Irene Pepperberg, in Brandeis University, and is the eqivalent of a superstar in the bird world. Long ago, Dr. Pepperberg chose Alex at a pet store as neither an exceptional nor sub-par bird. Through the years, Dr. Pepperberg has engaged Alex in a complex form of communication, where, much like a parent teaching a child, Alex is taught the proper "name" for an object. Now, he can label more than 100 items, including seven colors, five shapes, counting up to six, and three categories (color, shape, material of an object). This…
retrospectacle | July 14, 2006
I'm instituting a new Friday *special* here at Retrospectacle: Friday Grey Matters. While readers might think this have to do with neuroscience (and it does in a way) I'm actually going to be talking about African Grey Parrots, of which I am the proud owner on one! Sometimes it may just be observations about what Pepper does (behaviorally and linguistically) and sometimes research from the literature on these amazing birds. The first episode of Grey Matters will be an introduction to these birds, who are the best mimics in the animal kingdom. (More below the fold....)
African Grey, as their…
retrospectacle | June 28, 2006Wanna see a bird just like Pepper entertaing everyone with his speech and mimicry skills? Thanks to Blas for this amazing YouTube movie that is a lot of fun. These birds are amazing talkers, check it out!!!
retrospectacle | June 27, 2006
Ok, this isn't Pepper, but it looked so close I just had to post this adorable African Grey.
Sup fools!