In light of the discussion of avian intelligence during our ice breaker, I thought that I would break the ice on our blog with a small clip of Alex, an African grey parrot, who exhibits communicative judgment and decision-making capabilities. If you watch the clip, you will be able to see that Alex can identify properties of objects such as the shape, color, or material. He can also count the number of objects with a certain property. This ability makes Alex about as smart as a kindergartener. However, there has been some dispute against his mental abilities by critics that say his trainer, Irene Pepperberg, conditioned Alex to respond to subtle hints when she asks him a question. Doubts aside, owners of greys attest to the intelligence of the birds and also to their empathetic nature. S. G. Friedman, Ph.D, professor of psychology at Utah State University has studied the African grey parrot for its empathetic qualities as a companion to humans. Apparently, they are very attentive to human feelings and also exhibit some of their own. So, here is a clip of Alex the African Grey Parrot, possibly a thinking and feeling bird... possibly not, but certainly something for you to enjoy after our ice breaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KvPN_Wt8I
I am looking forward to this semester and our discussions on the philosophy of race, so I shall be posting on more serious topics soon. But this was just too good to pass up and seemed like a nice way to break the ice on our blog in response to the brief discussion animal intelligence during introductions.
-Ian
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