• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Counting Parrot

Counting Parrot

October 31, 2005
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/051031_sciup_coun.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
What’s none got to do with it? I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Alex is a 28-year-old African grey parrot. Brandeis University comparative psychologist Irene Pepperberg has taught him to identify colors, shapes, objects, and numbers.

IRENE PEPPERBERG (Brandeis University):
Alex, how many green wool?

Alex: "One."

IRENE PEPPERBERG:
OK, Good parrot.

HIRSHON:
Now Alex has become the first bird to understand the concept of zero, which is hard even for children. During a training session, he spontaneously used the word "none" to describe the absence of objects on a tray.

IRENE PEPPERBERG:
Now he had understood none in terms of absence of same or different in two objects, but he had never been trained using none for a quantity.

HIRSHON:
Pepperberg says Alex is helping to convince people that even birdbrains are capable of abstract thought. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior
Previous Post:Shark Roundup
Next Post:Laughing Animals

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos