The real story
When Irene Pepperberg bought Alex in 1977, she asked the pet-shop employee to pick a bird at random, so nobody could claim she had chosen a genius. His name stood for Avian Learning Experiment. Over 30 years he learned more than 100 words and could name colours, shapes, materials and quantities; a square, to him, was 'four-corner'.
Looking in a mirror one day, he asked 'what color?', and learned the word grey after being told six times. Researchers describe it as the first question known to be asked by a non-human animal. In 2005 Pepperberg reported he grasped something like zero, answering 'none' when nothing differed. He died on 6 September 2007, aged 31; the evening before, he said what he said every night: 'You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.'
