A famous African Grey parrot named Alex became the first and only animal to ever ask an existential question about itself—after learning over 100 English words, identifying shapes, and counting objects, Alex looked into a mirror and asked his handler, "What color?" to learn that he was grey (opens in new tab)

In 1977, a young scientist named Irene Pepperberg walked into a Chicago pet shop and asked the assistant to choose a parrot for her at random. She didn’t want to be accused, later, of having hand-picked an unusually gifted bird. She was about to attempt something most of her field considered close to absurd: to […]