(Hi, you don't know me, but...)

Have you listened to the RA clip of him talking (http://www.sheldrake.org/nkisi/nkisi1_text.html)? Conversationally, it sounds like he even puts Alex to shame!

Wow, that is pretty amazing, thanks for the link.

Not too sure about the whole telepathy thing, it seems to almost discredit her.. Wonder if Pepperberg has been in contact with her at all, would be interesting to see some tests done on the bird's language ability..

I agree on the telepathy thing; I certainly believe animals have much greater empathic abilities than we usually give them credit for, but... I wouldn't go as far as to say it's impossible, I'd just have to have empirical evidence of my own to really buy into it I guess.

But I wondered the same thing about Pepperberg, especially since I've heard her say a couple of times that Alex will probably never be able to carry on a full-fledged conversation; N'Kisi seems to be well on his way to that already, and he's only four.

This all makes me wonder if perhaps my little grey is a bit of a dunce. Thus far his vocabulary consists of lots of clicks and whistles and something that sounds suspiciously like "Uh oh." I adore him, and wouldn't really care if he never spoke a word, but there is something embarrassing about having a female cockatiel with a bigger vocabulary than the grey. ;)

Big deal... I know WAY more than 950 words.

But seriously, this really underscores my reasons for not liking people having birds like these as pets. It's like keeping a 5 year old kid locked up in a cage. I know that a lot of pet owners are very good to them (My mother included), but it just gives me the willies thinking that we're trying to "domesticate" something that intelligent. It's my belief that bits like this help keep the bird market alive. Some idiot with a few hundred bucks will go buy one after reading this, not understanding the unique time and attention a bird requires. Even if he doesn't have a 950 word vocabulary.

PS -

Holy Christ AngstyGirl is hot!

AngstyGirl claims that she is not beat material. She is cute, but not very imaginative...Either that or she is dispairiging the imagination of half of the planet's population...either way it is a turn off...