Featured series 
Tag: Irene Pepperberg
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Science & Tech
When a bird brain tops Harvard students on a test
African grey parrot Griffin shows off his brain power, making students doubt their own.
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Science & Tech
Brainy birds
A new study shows that African grey parrots can perform some cognitive tasks at levels beyond those of 5-year-old humans. The results not only suggest that humans aren’t the only species capable of making complex inferences, but also point to flaws in a widely used test of animal intelligence.
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Health
Discerning bird
To look at him, Griffin doesn’t seem like he’d be smarter than your typical 4-year-old — he’s a bird, after all. But the African grey parrot can easily outperform young children on certain tests, including one that measures understanding of volume.
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Health
The parrot knows shapes
Despite a visual system vastly different from that of humans, tests showed the bird could successfully identify both Kanizsa figures and occluded shapes. The findings suggest that birds may process visual information in a way that is similar to humans.
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Campus & Community
Going forward, a look back
The Harvard Campaign, milestones in the arts, and scientific breakthroughs marked 2013-14 at Harvard.
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Health
Fair-minded birds
New research conducted at Harvard demonstrates sharing behavior in African grey parrots.
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Health
Polly want a vocabulary?
Irene Pepperberg, best known for her work with an African grey parrot named Alex — whose intelligence was estimated as equal to that of a 6-year-old child — recently relocated her lab to Harvard, where she continues to explore the origins of intelligence by working with birds.
