A Questioning Parrot, a Cold Reading Horse and a Minecraft Playing Ape

Wouldn't it be great if you could converse with animals?

Sure, we can talk to them - and in some cases they can learn and respond to the odd word - but they don't really understand us any more than we understand them. Usually.

Here are the stories of three special animals...

• Alex, the Questioning Parrot: A bird that knew a hundred words - and one of the two known animals who've asked a direct question of a human
• Clever Hans, the Cold Reading Horse: An equine that learned to read human body language - and play an audience
• Kanzi, the Minecraft Playing Bonobo: An inventive, keyboard-wielding primate with a knack for computer games

Alex, the Questioning Parrot: Did you know that some parrots can understand human speech - and even ask meaningful questions?

Alex was the name of an African grey parrot bought at the tender age of one by Dr Irene Pepperburg. His life became a thirty year long experiment as Pepperburg taught him human vocabulary - something Alex took full advantage of as parrots can "speak" human words aloud.

The parrot was trained using a model/rival technique. Basically, Alex would watch a human "student" interacting with a human trainer and getting a reward. The parrot (who was pretty jealous) would attempt to copy the human student (his rival) in the hopes of getting the same attention and reward.

The technique certainly seemed to work. By the time of his death, Alex had picked up over a hundred words, could sort things by category (i.e. color, material, etc.) and count to six - he even seemed to have grasped the concept of zero.

Claim to Fame: Quite a few animals have learned to mimic words, but Alex actually seemed to understand what he was saying. He was even able to make his own labels for things - for example, he referred to red apples as a "banerry" blending banana and cherry into a new word. He was capable of adding three sets of items together as they were shown to him in sequence - only one other non-human has managed this.

Alex was also the first known non-human to have asked a human a direct question. Upon seeing his reflection in a mirror, he asked a trainer "What’s that?" and after being told "That's you, you're a parrot" he followed up with "What color?" Following this exchange, Alex added grey to his vocabulary.

A later parrot named Apollo would follow in the clawsteps of Alex, becoming the second known non-human to ask direct questions!

Clever Hans, the Cold Reading Horse: Have you ever heard of a counting horse?

The story of Clever Hans begins in 1891 when his trainer Wilhelm von Osten took him on tour in Berlin. The seemingly erudite equine would amaze audiences by responding to questions - he seemed able to perform mathematics, spell and even keep track of time. His answers were given in the form of head movements and hoof taps - he would indicate directions with his head and tap out numbers (sometimes corresponding to letters of the alphabet) or point to a symbol with his hoof.

You might be thinking that this was just a clever trick (more on that later) but the horse seemed able to perform these feats even under the skeptical eye of scientists. Moreover, Wilhelm von Osten seemed convinced by the skills of his protégé. He would forbid onlookers from whispering answers to the animal - and Hans was able to successfully perform outside of his trainer's presence. If von Osten was a crooked showman, he was clearly a talented one.

Claim to Fame: It was psychologist and comparative biologist Oskar Pfungst who eventually uncovered what was really going on - Hans was a self-taught expert in human body-language.

Through a painstaking series of experiments (some of which involved him pantomiming the actions of the horse) Pfungst determined that humans gave little involuntary head movements as Hans honed in. As the tapping hoof approached the correct number, the crowd would lean forwards, breaths would be held and so on. Even the most restrained watchers would make small (but perceptible) movements that the cunning horse had learned to pick up on. Tellingly, Hans struggled to answer questions correctly when he couldn't see the questioner or if the questioner didn't know the answer themselves.

Based on this testing, Pfungst concluded that Hans was reading the body language of the people around him and using their knowledge to answer questions correctly. It may not be as impressive as being a numerate, literate and German-speaking horse, but the ability to decipher the involuntary movements of another species is pretty incredible. After all, the "cold reading" techniques of stage magicians are impressive enough when used on fellow humans!

Kanzi, the Minecraft Playing Bonobo: Did you know that a bonobo learned to touch-talk from observation alone... and went on to become a proficient video gamer?

Bonobos are apes closely related to chimpanzees (and therefore closely related to us.) They are highly social, which possibly explains the linguistic prowess of a bonobo named Kanzi.

Kanzi and his mother Matata were guests of the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. The LRC had previously conducted language experiments on chimpanzees (even developing a lexigram keyboard that the animals could touch-talk with) and were keen to expand their horizons... but Matata didn't show any interest in the keyboard.

When Matata was eventually removed from the program, the untrained Kanzi surprised researchers by taking to the keyboard like a duck to water. He'd picked up the basics of language by observation alone.

Claim to Fame: At the age of eight Kanzi's performance on a language comprehension test was similar to that of a two year old human. His language skills continued to grow as he did. During an outing to the woods, he showed his handlers the symbols for marshmallow and fire... and after being given matches and marshmallows; he collected twigs, lit a fire and toasted the marshmallows on a stick.

Though his vocal capabilities were restricted due to the limitations of his lexigram keyboard, Kanzi figured out ways to get his ideas across anyway. He referred to a beaver as a "water gorilla" and cream cheese as "cheese toothpaste."

Kanzi also learned how to play some computer games, including the ever-popular Minecraft. Using the computer with a touchscreen, Kanzi and a fellow bonobo named Teko even managed to kill the dragon at the end of the game!

Thanks for reading - perhaps you'd also be interested in...

• Fashion, Theft and Grudges: 5 Animals That Act Like Humans
• Primate Pharmaceuticals, Mouse First Aid and Ant Amputations: Non-Humans Using Medical Care

Sources and Further Information:

• Alex the parrot makes up words
• Are These 2 African Gray Parrots The Only Non-Human Animals To Ever Ask A Question?
• Alex the Parrot's final experiment
• The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clever Hans, by Oskar Pfungst
• Georgia State University Language Research Center
• Language comprehension in ape and child
• Speaking Bonobo
• Even Apes Are Playing Minecraft Now