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African Grey Parrots are extremely sociable, loving, and intelligent animals. They are capable of learning hundreds of human words and sounds, which can be used in their proper contexts. Some researchers say that African Grey Parrots have intelligence equivalent to that of a five-year-old child. The most famous African Grey was probably Alex (1976 - 2007) who was the subject of a thirty-year (1977-2007) experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg.
By the end of his life, he could identify fifty different objects and recognize quantities up to six; he could distinguish seven colors and five shapes, and understand the concepts of "bigger," "smaller," "same," and "different," and that he was learning "over" and "under." Alex had a memorized vocabulary of about 150 words, but what was exceptional was that he used these words to actually communicate what he wanted. For example, when he was tired of being tested, he would say "I'm gonna go away", and if the researcher displayed annoyance, Alex tried to diffuse it with the phrase, "I'm sorry."
Dolphins demonstrate problem solving and tool-use by picking up the habit of swimming with sea sponges on their snouts, which armor them against the prick of spiny fish. In one study, Bottlenose dolphins were found capable of choosing an "I don't know" option during a difficult test. When the dolphins selected that option, they were likely considering their own thought process. This indicates the cognitive concept known as metacognition, which some consider an indicator of self-awareness and higher consciousness.
originally posted by: just2cents
a reply to: Zanti Misfit
If the Americans can teach dolphins to shoot Soviets, anything is possible.
The human-animal mixtures are being created by injecting human stem cells into days-old animal embryos, then gestating these in female livestock. Based on interviews with three teams, two in California and one in Minnesota, MIT Technology Review estimates that about 20 pregnancies of pig-human or sheep-human chimeras have been established during the last 12 months in the U.S., though so far no scientific paper describing the work has been published, and none of the animals were brought to term.