----- Original Message ----- From: "William T Goodall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 7:17 PM Subject: Re: Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
> > On 27 Jan 2004, at 2:17 am, Robert Seeberger wrote: > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3430481.stm > > > > The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to > > communicate with people has brought scientists up short. > > The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of > > 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour. > > > > He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel > > ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human > > child would do. > > > > N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, > > feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine. > > > > N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human > > language in the animal world. > > > > About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if > > N'kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of > > material. > > I've always thought that the 'scientific research' of last century > which purported to show the vast gulf between humans and other animals > belonged in the same dustbin as the 'scientific research' that showed > the inferiority of some human 'races', the nonsense about IQ and a > whole lot of other dodgy stuff. Its just rubbish science, and needs to > be done again to find out what is really going on. > That's similar to the reasons why I keep posting these articles about smart animals. There may be a gap in intelligence, but I find many animals exhibit what seems to be emotion. xponent My Wife's Cat Loves Me Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
