Mick Hartley

Good to see the cognitive abilities of the African Grey finally getting the attention they deserve:

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N’kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope – just as a human child would do.

N’kisi’s remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.

N’kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.

About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if N’kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of material.

He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.

One N’kisi-ism was “flied” for “flew”, and another “pretty smell medicine” to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.

I’m privileged to have been involved in the teaching of a group of these extraordinary birds for a while now. We’ve been working through a basic introductory course in the Philosophy of Science. On the whole it’s been a rewarding experience, though at times there can be discipline problems. For some reason they enjoy falling off their perches and pretending they’re dead, and one in particular will go into a corner and turn his back on me at the start of the lesson.

“What’s wrong with M’pongo this morning?” I’ll say.

In chorus: “He’s pining for the fjords!”

Cue much loud squawking and stamping of claws.

I wouldn’t mind just the once, but it gets a bit wearisome every single lesson. Still, that’s a minor quibble.

Our current topic: anthropomorphism in animal psychology.