Conrad is proof that the lazy, self-entitled epidemic that is sweeping the planet isn't necessarily limited to humans!
I heard, "Come here! Come here!" coming from his cage once too often this morning. I was loading the dishwasher, and without looking in that direction, I replied, "I'll come and get you out in a minute!" He was insistent! "Come here! Come here!"
When I finally looked up from my work, I noticed that he was not staring, but GLARING at the bottom of his cage. He was talking to the peanuts in his snack bowl! Instead of going down to the bottom of the cage to get the peanuts, he was demanding, and expecting the peanuts to come to him! After a few minutes of demanding that those poor peanuts come to him, he got pissed and climbed as quickly as he could down to his snack bowl. UH-OH! Those peanuts were in trouble! He picked up the offending peanuts, one by one, and hurled them through the bars bars of his cage, and onto the floor.
The 'entitlement' thing isn't uncommon to African Grey parrots that know how to express themselves.
I decided to test this theory once more. I got him out of his cage, and after our normal "sitting on the shoulder" routine, I put him on the kitchen counter to play while I finished loading the dishwasher.
He immediately went over to the plate that I had sitting on the counter, and completely dismantled the roast beef sandwich that I was eating, and helped himself to as much of it as he could eat. After he ate what he wanted of the sandwich, I had to cut him off at the pass, and rescue the remainder of the shredded bread before he hurled it off the counter, and onto the kitchen floor. ("I'm finished with it! What further purpose can it serve now?")
The test:
I had a large bag of potato chips on the kitchen counter. Conrad LOVES potato chips, and any other food that isn't 'bird food'.
I know that HE knows that potato chips are in that bag. I opened the bag so that he could see inside, but I intentionally left the chips in the bottom of the bag, clearly out of reach from the open end. He walked across the counter, looked inside the open bag. Without going inside the bag, he stuck his head inside, and called to the chips, "Come Here! Come Here!" He was trying to be patient, and for several minutes, he called to the chips to obey him, and come to him. Throughout my life, I have learned from general experience that chips don't make good listeners! After several minutes of calling to them (and I didn't get them out of the bag for him, either!), he charged inside the dark bag, and one by one, he got chips out, took them to the edge of the kitchen counter, cursing like a 65 yr. old drunk sailor during the entire time, he hurled the offending chips to the floor.
Alex the Grey (famous parrot) also exhibited 'self-entitlment' behaviors. Human beings are not unique in their laziness - or their expectations!
This is a refresher course on an African Grey parrot's capabilities. The only 'beef' that I have with this clip is that Diane Sawyer says that Alex was a "genius among birds." This is not a true statement. Alex had no more and no less capabilities than any other African Grey parrot. Alex was selected, quite at random from by the pet shop owner, per Dr. Pepperberg's request, so that any of her own personal preferences would be eliminated. This bird was chosen for her Avian Language Experiment:
A = Avian
L = Language
EX = Experiment
=============
- Michael
I heard, "Come here! Come here!" coming from his cage once too often this morning. I was loading the dishwasher, and without looking in that direction, I replied, "I'll come and get you out in a minute!" He was insistent! "Come here! Come here!"
When I finally looked up from my work, I noticed that he was not staring, but GLARING at the bottom of his cage. He was talking to the peanuts in his snack bowl! Instead of going down to the bottom of the cage to get the peanuts, he was demanding, and expecting the peanuts to come to him! After a few minutes of demanding that those poor peanuts come to him, he got pissed and climbed as quickly as he could down to his snack bowl. UH-OH! Those peanuts were in trouble! He picked up the offending peanuts, one by one, and hurled them through the bars bars of his cage, and onto the floor.
The 'entitlement' thing isn't uncommon to African Grey parrots that know how to express themselves.
I decided to test this theory once more. I got him out of his cage, and after our normal "sitting on the shoulder" routine, I put him on the kitchen counter to play while I finished loading the dishwasher.
He immediately went over to the plate that I had sitting on the counter, and completely dismantled the roast beef sandwich that I was eating, and helped himself to as much of it as he could eat. After he ate what he wanted of the sandwich, I had to cut him off at the pass, and rescue the remainder of the shredded bread before he hurled it off the counter, and onto the kitchen floor. ("I'm finished with it! What further purpose can it serve now?")
The test:
I had a large bag of potato chips on the kitchen counter. Conrad LOVES potato chips, and any other food that isn't 'bird food'.
I know that HE knows that potato chips are in that bag. I opened the bag so that he could see inside, but I intentionally left the chips in the bottom of the bag, clearly out of reach from the open end. He walked across the counter, looked inside the open bag. Without going inside the bag, he stuck his head inside, and called to the chips, "Come Here! Come Here!" He was trying to be patient, and for several minutes, he called to the chips to obey him, and come to him. Throughout my life, I have learned from general experience that chips don't make good listeners! After several minutes of calling to them (and I didn't get them out of the bag for him, either!), he charged inside the dark bag, and one by one, he got chips out, took them to the edge of the kitchen counter, cursing like a 65 yr. old drunk sailor during the entire time, he hurled the offending chips to the floor.
Alex the Grey (famous parrot) also exhibited 'self-entitlment' behaviors. Human beings are not unique in their laziness - or their expectations!
This is a refresher course on an African Grey parrot's capabilities. The only 'beef' that I have with this clip is that Diane Sawyer says that Alex was a "genius among birds." This is not a true statement. Alex had no more and no less capabilities than any other African Grey parrot. Alex was selected, quite at random from by the pet shop owner, per Dr. Pepperberg's request, so that any of her own personal preferences would be eliminated. This bird was chosen for her Avian Language Experiment:
A = Avian
L = Language
EX = Experiment
=============
ALEX !!!! That is how Dr. Pepperberg chose his name.
- Michael
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