Parrot power: The woman who revealed birds are not bird-brained
In the 1970s, it was crazy to think that birds were intelligent. But Irene Pepperberg and her parrot Alex defied the critics and showed that small brains can be hugely powerful.
Dr Irene Pepperberg is regarded today as the mother of avian cognition. But that accolade comes despite decades of being overlooked and ridiculed, both for being a female scientist in the 1970s and for daring to think that birds, with their walnut-sized brains, might have the ability to understand language. Alex, an African Grey parrot, would help Irene to change people's minds about what a 'bird-brain' can really do. And he would change her life too, before their 30 years of scientific study together came to an untimely end.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Anna Lacey
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
(Photo: Irene Pepperberg and Alex. Credit: David Carter)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Thu 26 Sep 202411:06GMTBBC World Service
- Thu 26 Sep 202417:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 26 Sep 202421:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Fri 27 Sep 202402:06GMTBBC World Service
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