Page 66 - 2005 DT 12 Issues

Bird Brains when addressing each of its offspring. tion expert at Ohio State University’s
In another study conducted at Chimpanzee Center in Columbus first
or more than 40 years, re- Brandeis University and detailed in showed in 1989 that chimpanzees could
searchers have explored the the July issue of the Journal of Com- understand the idea of zero and use it
Fcontroversial subject of animal parative Psychology, comparative when adding quantities of objects. She
intelligence and communication. Am- psychologist Irene Pepperberg discov- argues that Alex’s “none” response may
ple evidence is said to exist to attest that ered that some birds may comprehend just be a “default” response when he is
humans are not the only “intelligent” the mathematical concept of zero, an unable to identify the number of objects
species on earth, but the significance abstract notion that human children in front of him.
of that evidence is often hard to inter- rarely understand until around four Pepperberg, currently an Adjunct
pret in human terms. Two new studies years of age. Professor at Brandeis University and
suggest a level of complex thought and According to National Geographic an Associate Professor at MIT’s Media
communication in birds far greater than News Service, an African Grey Parrot Lab, agrees that while Alex may indeed
previously realized. (Psittacus Erithacus) named Alex has understand the concept of zero, more
One of those studies identifies at been one of Pepperberg’s research rigorous testing is needed to prove that
least one species of parrot that seems subjects in vocal learning for the last African Grey parrots can be taught to
to create its own names for family 27 years. Alex has proven his ability understand abstract numerical notions
members and friends. Vocal labeling to distinguish objects with different in the same way as people do.
indicates that the namer must be able characteristics in a human language, “[Alex’s ‘none’] isn’t the same
to first visualize the individual or object combining qualities such as color, concept of zero that you and I have,”
in its mind. Specta- shape, number Pepperberg said. “That’s why I call it
cled parrotlets (Forpus and size with an a ‘zero-like’ concept. We are working
conspicillatus), small, accuracy aver- to refine our knowledge of what this
brightly green or blue aging around 80 concept actually is.”
colored South Ameri- percent. In the In the wild, African Grey parrots
can parrots, use specific study, the bird was would need a basic understanding of
calls that “only refer presented with more-versus-less in foraging, Pep-
to the individual in differently col- perberg said. Counting might come in
question,” said Ralf ored blocks in sets handy when tracking the number of
Wanker, an orni- of two, three and parrots in a flock and in deciphering
thologist at Hamburg six. When asked vocalizations.
University and lead author of the study. which color group had five blocks, Alex “That zero was represented in some
“To my knowledge, it is the first time answered “none.” Pepperberg then set way by a parrot with a walnut-sized
brain . . . is striking.” Pepperberg said.
that labeling or naming is described up a series of tests in which the parrot “Evolutionarily the connection [of
for animals in this way.” The findings consistently identified zero quantities birds] to humans is ancient . . . yet their
are published in the July issue of the of objects with the label “none.” The brains seem to have homologues [struc-
scientific journal, Animal Behavior. bird had been previously taught the tural similarities] to ours.” c
Wanker made audio recordings of term “none” to indicate when neither
17 individual birds from five different of two identically sized objects was July/August Board Notes
families housed in a simulated environ- larger that the other. He also used it to
ment. Computer analysis of the sounds indicate when there was no difference July:
confirmed that each bird’s initial con- in other criteria, such as color or shape, 8 A motion was unanimously
tact call was specific to each parrotlet among a set of objects. Alex had never carried to approve and fund a proposal
and coincided with the individual’s been taught to use “none” to indicate an from the Great Basin Institute to hold a
social standing. When a particular bird absence of quantity without training or week-long trails-building seminar in
called its mate, it used a specific call. prompting by humans. October, 2005. The seminar would pro-
It also used specific, yet similar, calls Sally Boysen, an animal cogni- vide good preliminary training for 8-10

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