Most folk have never stopped to closely examine their belief system concerning higher animal intelligence.
There are several less obvious reasons for avoiding this thought process, but that is not the essence of this particular blog. Thousands of hours totaling many decades of research have been directed towards the study of Koko, the gorilla that speaks with American Sign Language, and Kanzi, the Bonobo - a chimpanzee relative. Bonobo communicates with his trainers by selecting from thousands of combinations of symbols
There are specific reasons that you never see African Gray parrots (or Bonobos!) in Zoos: They have certain behaviors that do not appeal to many humans that simply have never taken the time to see things from the Bonobo or the African Gray's perspective. As an example, male Bonobos act out sexually - and they do so in public! They will act out towards humans, as well, and some close-minded human Zoo visitors might get a little offended, if you know what I mean.
Some videos:
As I previously stated, I am intentionally trying to avoid discussing why many folk will fail to understand the true depth of animal cognition, so I will continue with a video about the famous (but still so very common!) African Gray Parrot, "Alex", and his trainer / companion / colleague, Dr. Irene Pepperberg. Remember: The beef that both myself and Dr. Pepperberg has with this video is that Diane Sawyer calls Alex a "genius among birds." This is not true, as Dr. Pepperberg mentions in her book, "Alex and Me". Alex was selected randomly from a pet shop 30 years ago for the sole purpose of the Doctor's studies. He was by no means a 'genius'. **ALL** average African Grey parrots have these capabilities. (Try saying that sentence without an "A"!):
Conrad is the from the same lineage. I have been in charge of his little soul since 2000. I got him when he was 6 years old. As Dr. Pepperberg explains, there is much more to an African Grays than a little 1 pound ball of fluff.
When Conrad came into my life, he was already semi-potty trained. As with most things in Conrad's life, we had two options:
1) Every morning, I could put him on my hand and hold him over the toilet. He would dutifully exclaim, "Shit, BIRD! Shit, BIRD!", he could give a manly, human laugh, and then he did proudly did his business.
(If you know anybody with an African Gray, the will tell you how much a Gray absolutely loathes the word "BIRD!", and they view it as a forbidden curse word!) If I say the word "Bird" in his presence, whether it is directed at him or not, Conrad will spend the next hour, looking at me with mean, squinty eyes, and mumbles, "Bird! Bird! Bird!", as if he is in total disbelief that I would have the chutzpah to do such a thing!
2) I could sit him on the toilet rim while I took my morning shower, and he would do his business and then would boast, "I shit, I shit! Huhhhh.... Huhhhhh.... Huhhhh!" (A somewhat bored human laugh!)
I could also put him in the shower with me, and he would exclaim, "What....What... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He knew very well what the situation was, and he was protesting loudly.
Although African Gray parrots have every cognitive ability that the average 4 yr old child has, Mother Nature will occasionally - but rarely! - take over, and at least in part, govern their actions.
As was demonstrated in the videos that I have included with this blog, to list just a small fraction of the cognitive abilities that African Grays can master:
1) They can count! Not just recite numbers they have been taught, but they know and are aware of 'quantity'.
2) They know the difference between hot / cold, and can express such differences if so trained.
3) They know the material, or matter that something is constructed or made of. (wood, metal, glass, wool, etc)
4) They have a *very* profound sense of both worry - and jealousy!
5) They know current, present and past tense.
Let's do another quick review. Consider as an example (the above video), when Alex asked Dr. Pepperberg for some corn. Alex knew the difference between 'soft' (fresh) and 'hard' (dry) corn, and would ask for them individually. He then proclaimed that the corn was 'cold' - it had been in the refrigerator. Most people, if they have considered theses things at all, have no idea the magnitude that this level of cognition, or thought processes takes to accomplish. They tend to think, "Oh, so what! The thing asked for 'cold corn'." Baby, let me tell you. There is so much more to it than that, and that point brings us back to the reason why many people fail to see these skills and abilities in 'mere lowly animals': They refuse to believe that a 'caged creature' might just have as much or more intelligence as they do, and by golly, we can't have that, now can we? Why can't we 'have that'? The Dr. Phil phrase, "There is something in that guy that I can't stand about myself!" comes to mind, and 'leveling' is the technique that those folk tend to use to make them feel better about themselves. Trust me when I tell you this. The group of people that were hurled at me at the time of my birth (called 'a family' by some unknowing people!) are the masters of leveling, and in the immortal words of Sophia Petrillo from "The Golden Girls", "But I digress, and I will continue....."
What ever happened to the "quick review"? (The rap group, Salt 'n' Peppa): "OK, Here it go!"
Alex then threw some of the corn he was eating on the floor, and he asked Dr. Pepperberg, "Will you go pick up corn?" Like a good momma / trainer - and the fact that she knows Grays very well, she answered him, "Well, no, Alex. I'm not going to go pick up the corn that you threw on the floor!" She knows that 'once you're a Gray's bitch, you're ALWAYS a Gray's bitch!' If you don't let the habit start in the beginning, there will be no habit to break in the end!
Let's break down what Alex said:
1) "Will...."
"Will..." is a word that we use to start a question. He knew that he wanted to ask Dr. Pepperberg a question. That one thought process, my friends, is very profound in the world of cognition and psychiatry. Alex knew that this is the word that I use when I am anticipating YOU to do an action that I am about to ask of you.
2) "you......."
He isn't asking another person in the room (such as the camera man!) to so an activity, he is asking Dr. Pepperberg. He is directing his request at a specific person. Another advanced thought process...
3) "go....."
He is letting you know that he wants you to leave the current spot you occupy and to move your body to another place.... There is more to "go" than meets the average mind.
4) "pick up....."
Is not only making a request of Dr. Pepperberg, and he wants this request to be accomplished at a different location than they are currently located, but when she gets there, he wants her to retrieve an object.....
5) "corn?"
And the object he wants her to pick is the object that he remembered that he purposefully flung across the room.
A psychologist would say to me, "OK, Sherlock. That was a nice start, but it sure was amateurish!", and he would probably rattle off a list of 100 more cognitive events that occurred during this exchange that I inadvertently overlooked.
Fast Forward to yesterday afternoon:
Conrad was 'in one of those moods."
I have had several pieces of keyboard equipment for sale over the past few days via Craigslist. I have been occupied with showing potential buyers the items for sale, answering e-mails and calls, and the activities that comes with this flourish of activities. The last thing I need to do is to clean up around Conrad's cage after he has a "shredding" fit. One thing that Mother Nature gave African Grays that I wish she would take back immediately is the need to occasionally "forage". In their natural environment, African Grays don't have their own voices, but they effectively borrow the language from other animal species around them to communicate with each other. They also have an occasional need to 'forage', because their natural environment isn't really deep inside a rain forest in Africa, but it is more on the edge of the forest, where it meets a savanna. They will fly down from the protection of a tree, and forage or rummage on the ground, looking for food. African Grays that share our lives tend to do the same thing occasionally. I know one Gray owner that has a particularly twisted sense of humor, and when their Grey does the 'foraging thing', they have taught that poor fella to squawk like a contented chicken that is scratching through hay! So...here we have it: A bird that is doing a chicken-like behavior, and is making chicken sounds! I'll have to admit that that's kinda funny!
Anywho, Conrad has been doing the foraging-thing the past couple days. He has been shredding the paper that lines the bottom of his cage into thin strips, and throwing it out of his cage, all over the floor. Birds are particularly messy little beings, and they don't really care where crap flies, if you know what I mean. In nature, if they are eating in a tree, or on the ground, pieces of food will fall, and usually fall quite some distance from them. Other than meticulous body cleanliness and preening, bird don't care where their food scraps land. Considering the flying food, some of which is accidental, and some he does with purpose, and the flying newspaper strips, it is next to impossible to maintain a clean environment around him. I don't want my house to look like a dump EVER, much less when I have guests in my house. So... I removed the newspaper, and placed it a few inches beneath the bottom grill of his cage. He can't shred paper any more. He gets pissed and walks over to his large heavy crock - the food bowl, which probably weighs more than he does. I put the food bowl on the floor of his cage years ago, to prevent him from throwing fists (claws?) full of food through the bars of the cage, and into the back of my head, because he can't find the special treat that he thinks should be there waiting for him to discover! On this particular foraging trip, he discovers that his beloved newspaper is gone. What to do next? "Oh, I have an idea", he says. He starts to mercilessly pummel that innocent food bowl. He doesn't stop until he has it turned over, and the 'bad' food has all spilled out. He's still pissed, and this latest tantrum hasn't fulfilled his need to destroy something. He spies the yellow plastic tray that I have had sitting under that food bowl for YEARS. He starts to tear at that tray until he has a huge hole torn in it. I was trying to play Scott Joplin's "Weeping Willow" as part of my practice routine on the piano, and the noises that were coming from that cage were starting to get on my last damned nerve, mildly stated.
I looked over my shoulder at his cage, and I asked:
"CONRAD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
He looked at me with the meanest, squintiest eyes that he could muster, and he said, "What the Sam Hell does it look like? I'm kickin' ass, do ya mind?" I answered him, "I guess not! Do I really have any other choice?" He answered me with a sharp, "NO!", turned his head and looked straight ahead at the poor pummeled food bowl, and picked up where he left off! As soon as I finished "Weeping Willow", I got off the piano bench, and put his food bowl back in it's original holder on the side of the cage (so he can't beat it to death or tip it over!), and I removed the chewed-up plastic tray!
I can just hear the referee in the corner, ringing the bell, and the announcer yelling over the loud speaker, "Round 2" ! ! ! ! !
Here is another little treasure before I leave you. You can find many more videos on YouTube by searching "Tattookub", but this one is pertinent to the subject:
Pay close attention, or fast forward to the 2:24 mark:
The little Cherub! Can't you just see the Halo around his head that matches his angel wings? he he he
- Michael
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