{"id":23858,"date":"2018-05-16T00:22:07","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T05:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/staging\/PB18\/?p=23858"},"modified":"2025-08-15T00:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T05:01:12","slug":"inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr
Which cup will the African grey choose? Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an earlier post<\/a>, I wrote about how parrots like to think that everything is theirs \u2014 or\u00a0that everything should be theirs. We have found, however, that African grey parrots will act\u00a0cooperatively and share under some circumstances \u2014 or at least they will do so when they realize\u00a0it is to their best advantage.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, colleagues and I set up an experiment to test whether grey parrots Griffin and Arthur would cooperate in order to maximize their rewards (P\u00e9ron et al., 2013). A trial consisted of each\u00a0bird acting in turn; in each turn they were given four cups from which to choose, with each cup\u00a0indicating a different reward contingency and numbers of nuts. The resulting reward would be\u00a0given out by the human experimenter.<\/p>\n

The Sharing Game<\/h3>\n

If the first bird to choose picked the green cup, he found\u00a0two nuts, but one nut went to the other bird. If he picked the orange cup, he found one nut, and\u00a0the other bird got the nut. If he picked the pink cup, he again found one nut, but he got the nut. If\u00a0he picked the purple cup, which was empty, no one got anything. The second bird then got a chance to choose from a replenished set of cups. On different days, different birds got to go first.<\/p>\n

The parrots could potentially maximize their overall number of nuts by reciprocating in sharing \u2014 that is, get a nut on each trial if they each picked green. Only Griffin, the dominant\u00a0bird, was willing to do so \u2014 to share \u2014 and then only reliably when he was a follower. Arthur, the\u00a0subordinate, always took the opportunity to take whatever he could for himself! In a second\u00a0experiment, each bird alternated with three humans with different specific intentions (selfish,\u00a0giving, or copying the bird\u2019s behavior). Here, the birds\u2019 responses tended towards consistency with the human behavior. Griffin was willing to share a reward with a human who was willing to\u00a0give up her reward, was selfish with the selfish human, and tended toward sharing with the\u00a0copycat human; note that he did not exactly copy the human who gave up her reward! Arthur\u00a0tended slightly toward increased sharing with the generous human and selfishness with the\u00a0selfish human, but did not change his behavior to affect that of the copycat. So it appeared that\u00a0Griffin, at least, had some idea that by sharing he could get the highest number of rewards.<\/p>\n

Although Griffin seemed to get the idea, he wasn\u2019t absolutely consistent in his behavior,\u00a0and we realized that he might have thought that the humans were acting erratically because all\u00a0the different types of trials with his trainers were intermixed. We thought he might do better if we\u00a0just gave him the copycat trials alone (P\u00e9ron et al., 2014). That indeed was the\u00a0case! This time, he fairly quickly figured out that by choosing green, he could get the most\u00a0rewards. Of course, his behavior wasn\u2019t exactly totally altruistic, but did show that a parrot could\u00a0learn to share when his partner would reciprocate and if the overall outcome would be favorable.<\/p>\n

Athena\u00a0Asks For A Helping Hand<\/h3>\n

More recently, we saw evidence of a somewhat different, but related, type of\u00a0behavior \u2014 one of our parrots possibly asking a student for help! The background for the incident\u00a0was as follows. Every evening, about 15 minutes before bedtime, our birds are given a favorite\u00a0treat \u2014 a whole almond in the shell (what Alex and now Griffin call \u201ccork nut\u201d) \u2014 as a reward for\u00a0going back into their cages so that the students can put them away for the night. As I\u2019ve written\u00a0previously, they are about as eager to go to “bed” as is a human toddler, so this is one way we\u00a0encourage their cooperation. Usually, they eat the nut immediately; sometimes they leave a bit\u00a0for breakfast; they never ignore it completely.<\/p>\n

One morning, however, a student came in to find\u00a0that Athena had seemingly not touched her nut at all. When the student opened the cage, Athena\u00a0came out with the nut in her beak \u2014 definitely an odd occurrence. Athena transferred the nut to\u00a0her foot, and then held it out to the student. Even odder! Intrigued, the student held out her hand,\u00a0into which Athena promptly dropped the nut. Upon inspection, the student saw that this was a\u00a0particularly smooth almond, with no edge that would provide a starting point for cracking. When\u00a0the student cracked the nut and returned it, Athena quickly ate it \u2014 so there was nothing wrong with\u00a0the innards. Now, whether Athena was actually asking for help or simply making her displeasure\u00a0known is unclear, but she certainly knew that the human was somehow responsible for fixing the\u00a0problem.<\/p>\n

It may simply be a matter of our parrots learning how to manipulate their human trainers\u00a0in order to get what they want, but these findings suggest that Grey parrots certainly can at least\u00a0do that, even if it means giving up something in the process!<\/p>\n

P\u00e9ron, F., Johns, M., Sapowicz, S., Bovet, D., &amp; Pepperberg, I.M. (2013). A study of reciprocity in Grey<\/em>
\nparrots (Psittacus erithacus) Animal Cognition, 16:197-210.<\/em>
\nP\u00e9ron, F., Thornburg, L., Gross, B., Gray, S., &amp; Pepperberg, I.M. (2014) Further studies on Grey parrot<\/em>
\nreciprocity. Animal Cognition, 17: 937-944.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg’s lab give some interesting answers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":23860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","bird-type-african-grey"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d\"},\"headline\":\"Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":925,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Behavior\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/\",\"name\":\"Inside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d\"},\"description\":\"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Which cup will the African grey choose?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds\",\"description\":\"Two Generations of Veterinarians Caring & Working for the Health of Animals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d\",\"name\":\"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Irene Pepperberg is a lecturer and research associate at\u00a0Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her research lab is located. You can help Dr. Pepperberg continue the groundbreaking parrot research she began more than 30 years ago with Alex, the African grey parrot who won admirers from around the world with his cognitive abilities. If you shop online through sites such as Amazon.com, you can designate the Alex Foundation to receive a percentage of your final sales, or register with the Alex Foundation at iGive.com and a percentage of sales from companies associated with iGive will go to the foundation. The Alex Foundation also has a \u201cDonate\u201d button linked to PayPal. Visit\u00a0The Alex Foundation\u00a0and click on the \u201cSupport Us\u201d link for more information. Read more about the lab at The Alex Foundation Facebook page and at The Alex Foundation Twitter account.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/author\\\/irene\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","description":"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","og_description":"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!","og_url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/","og_site_name":"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds","article_published_time":"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/"},"author":{"name":"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d"},"headline":"Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?","datePublished":"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/"},"wordCount":925,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg","articleSection":["Behavior"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/","name":"Inside Pepperberg's Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior? – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-16T05:22:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-15T05:01:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d"},"description":"Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pepperberg-and-african-grey.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Which cup will the African grey choose?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-pepperbergs-lab-do-parrots-engage-in-cooperative-behavior\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/","name":"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds","description":"Two Generations of Veterinarians Caring & Working for the Health of Animals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/e2384637ed0fac4b764f548a0441622d","name":"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pepperberg3crop-96x96.jpg","caption":"Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D."},"description":"Dr. Irene Pepperberg is a lecturer and research associate at\u00a0Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her research lab is located. You can help Dr. Pepperberg continue the groundbreaking parrot research she began more than 30 years ago with Alex, the African grey parrot who won admirers from around the world with his cognitive abilities. If you shop online through sites such as Amazon.com, you can designate the Alex Foundation to receive a percentage of your final sales, or register with the Alex Foundation at iGive.com and a percentage of sales from companies associated with iGive will go to the foundation. The Alex Foundation also has a \u201cDonate\u201d button linked to PayPal. Visit\u00a0The Alex Foundation\u00a0and click on the \u201cSupport Us\u201d link for more information. Read more about the lab at The Alex Foundation Facebook page and at The Alex Foundation Twitter account.","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/author\/irene\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44624,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23858\/revisions\/44624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}